


Deep In The Heart

by BluebonnetDaniel



Category: Original Work, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: A little bit of everything, America, Christianity, Don't copy to another site, Drama, F/F, Family, Friendship, High School, Jazz music references, Marching Band, Occasional slurs, Parallel world, Religious Themes, Rotating POV, School, Some Action, Some Humor, Some Romance, Suburban Setting, Texas, a lot of swearing, discussion of lgbtqia issues, high school band, lesbian mc, mc plays french horn, mostly orange, music references, politics is mentioned, pop culture references, prog rock references, rarely goes lime, takes place during the 2014-2015 academic year, teen drama, there's an armadillo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 47
Words: 143,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27184687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluebonnetDaniel/pseuds/BluebonnetDaniel
Summary: Ashley is a teenage girl living in suburban Texas who finds a strange journal in her closet, allowing her to access a mysterious parallel world. This world gives her the opportunity to affect society, which she must do while still keeping up with schoolwork and band, as well as dealing with personal drama.Marked as both an original story and a Persona story because the story's premise is inspired by Persona 5 (and the Persona series in general). However, you do not have to be a Persona fan to read this, as all the characters and setting are new and the rules of the Persona universe are re-explained (and straight-up altered in a few places).This is a partial rewrite of a story I posted here under the same name. Editing for the story is provided by my good friend Preceded.Note: This story should only be posted to Archive of our Own and Royal Road. If you find it anywhere else, please let me know.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 8





	1. Overture (August 24 Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Deep In The Heart (2019)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18677677) by [BluebonnetDaniel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluebonnetDaniel/pseuds/BluebonnetDaniel). 



It’s lunch time at El Dorado middle school. I walk outside to find my best friend, Aiko Soragami, sitting in her usual spot: the wooden bench that overlooks the tennis courts. She’s a thin girl with long black hair, and the daughter of a couple of Japanese immigrants. She has a Hello Kitty lunchbox that had contained the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she’s currently eating.

“Hi, Aiko!” I say cheerily, sitting to her right. “I was hoping to find you here.”

“Hey Ashley,” Aiko says. For some reason, she sounds… dull today.

There is an awkward pause. I suppose it’s time for me to spill what’s on my mind.

“I was going to sit with Tasha and Nathan like usual, but… they didn’t… they don’t want me to sit with them anymore.”

Aiko doesn’t say anything at first. She eats the last bite of the sandwich and closes her lunchbox. Then she asks, “You don’t have any food. Aren’t you going to eat something?”

“Um… well… I had a big breakfast,” I say, blushing a little bit. (I was hoping that she might have some extra food, but it’d be rude to ask for it now.) “Aiko… do you think that I’m a braggart?” I ask her suddenly.

“Well, I have to admit, you’ve let your skills in band get to your head a bit,” she says, still looking straight forward.

I sigh at the ground. So it is true… I guess I really do need to learn to reel it in. “It feels like nobody wants to hang around me anymore,” I tell her.

Because it’s true. Everywhere I go, I can’t shake the feeling that people are avoiding me… and with Tasha’s rejection still ringing in my ears, I can’t ignore it any longer.

Aiko doesn’t say anything to that, so we just sit here for a while. I see her start packing some of her stuff up, making me realize that it’s now or never.

As I think about what I planned to do, I feel a fresh wave of anxiety… but I just have to do it. I have to find out. It’s going to tear me apart from the inside if I don’t.

I turn to her. “But… you still like me, right?”

Then, my nerves get the better of me, and I grab her hand. She furrows her eyebrows and says, “Um, Ashley…?”

“Because I like you,” I say very quickly and nervously, the words spilling from me before I can stop them. “I like you a lot. Like, as more than just friends. And if you…”

But then, she retracts her hand from me, looking shocked. She quickly gets up, and just stares at me for a few seconds, before turning around and sort of jogging away.

And… um… I’m not sure what to do from there.

Maybe I should’ve… taken it a little slower? I may have freaked her out by grabbing her hand…

Of course, I’d been preparing myself for this… she may not be interested in other girls, or in me… and of course, I can’t fault her for that. But somehow, I can’t shake the plummeting feeling in my stomach… had I just messed up our whole friendship? Aiko’s the only one left now who’s willing to be friends with me… if I lost her… or had she already been having second thoughts about me? She seemed so cold the whole time, even before I popped the question… she’s normally so sweet and polite...

All of these thoughts are going to drive me nuts with anxiety, so I get up to head back into the school.

As I go through the door, I see Emily approaching from the other way. I hold the door open and say, “Hey Emily!”

She glares at me suspiciously and uses the other door. “Don’t get too close to me,” she says.

“Huh?” I say stupidly, as I feel another stab in my stomach. What on earth is going on…? We never knew each other that well, but I’ve never seen her act like this…

Then, I gaze down the hallway, and…

I see a group of other girls partway down the hallway, all looking at me, some of them pointing.

And in the middle of them, was Aiko.

That was the moment that changed me forever.

* * *

Even though I’m only three quarters of the way through the etude, I stop there.

Why… did that memory come back just then? That was over two years ago…

At any rate, it annoyingly completely killed my desire to practice. I sigh at this. I guess I’ll put up now, even though I probably could have gone for another thirty minutes and been okay.

I set my French horn back in its case, making sure to wipe it with my cloth real quickly as I do. According to my parents, the French horn is the most difficult brass instrument to play. The unique way it’s coiled all up in a little ball gives it a harmonic series of pitches that are unusually close together, so it’s all too easy to frack a note. And yet, here I am, at fourteen years old, and not only am I the best French horn player at my high school as a freshman, but I’m also proficient in two other music instruments. Fun fact: The term “French horn” is technically a misnomer, as the instrument originated in Germany. The International Horn Society is actually currently trying to insist that it simply be called the “horn.” But well, it’s my internal narration, so I can call it whatever I want.

I shut the case, latch it, and put it up against the wall alongside my trumpet case. One look around my room should tell you all you need to know about my priorities in life. In front of me is a heavy-duty Manhasset music stand, which is piled with all-region tryout music, solo literature, and other etudes. Behind that and my two instrument cases is my cheap electric piano; we unfortunately still don’t have the money for a proper upright. Against the opposite wall is a desk. Currently, the only thing on it is a generic school supplies list, but that will change very soon. My backpack sits in between the desk and my door. On the other side of the desk is my bed, and next to that is my nightstand.

I space out in my desk chair for a while. It was never really clear to me what exactly I did to deserve that. She said that I had let my skills “Get to my head.” Except I really was happy with how quickly I was able to progress in band. What’s wrong with being proud of your accomplishments?

I did have a bad habit of bragging about it too much. I admit to that. But I thought that Aiko and I’s friendship was special. I never dreamed that she’d totally abandon me over something like that. I was so naïve back then; I honestly would have changed for her if she’d asked me too.

Though some of the others turning on me was less surprising. I already knew that Tasha had been souring on me for a while. I’d known that since that one time at church camp the spring break before that. And now that particular memory is playing through my mind…

* * *

I feel something warm in my arms. It’s really nice to hold… I’d like to just sit here for a while and enjoy this. Why does it have to be so bright in here?

“Um… Ashley?” A girl’s voice says.

I open my eyes. It turns out that the something I’m holding is Kimmie… 

“Oops, sorry about that,” I say quickly, retracting my arms and blushing. 

She smiles. “It’s okay... we can’t control what we do when we’re sleeping, now can we?” She winks at me.

I’m not sure how to follow up this enigmatic response. I look around the room. Tasha and Maria are already awake and dressed.

“What time is it?” I ask them.

“Breakfast in ten minutes,” Tasha explains. She doesn’t seem to want to look me in the eyes for some reason. Well, what I did was very suspect… I need to be more careful for the rest of camp.

“Darn, I overslept,” I say. “Better get moving!” 

These three were my roommates for Spring Break church camp. Tasha and Maria I knew from school. Tasha is a bespectacled black girl with wavy hair that she usually keeps tied up. Maria is a plump hispanic girl with a whole lot of hair that trails behind her back and always gets blown around in the wind. Kimmie is the only one in our room who’s not from El Dorado. She’s also black, and small in stature, with hair that seems to naturally keep itself tidy around her shoulders. Being the only white girl in the room is a bit unusual, given that my city is over 60% white. Didn’t bother me, though. After all, there was a totally different reason I was the oddball of the group…

Anyway, Kimmie and I are able to get ourselves dressed and ready, and we make our way to lunch. The cafeteria is a short walk away from the cabin we’re staying in. We’re served fruit and crappy scrambled eggs. On the back wall is a “list of sins” provided by our camp, which for some stupid reason contains “Dungeons & Dragons.”

“Hey Maria, do you want to trade your peach for my banana?” I ask her as we sit down. No response.

I look over at her, and she has her eyes closed and she’s mouthing something… oh, duh, she’s saying grace. Forgot about that...

“Oops, sorry about that…” I whisper.

“Am I the only one who’s starting to get a bit homesick?” Kimmie says as she sits down herself. 

“No, you’re not,” Tasha says, having just finished saying grace herself.

“I am looking forward to getting back to practicing,” I say as I start shoveling scrambled eggs into my mouth. They taste just as bad now as they have all week.

“Practicing what?” Kimmie asks, curious.

“Oh, my french horn!” I explain. “I need to get back to that ASAP, because I’m the best player in my grade. I’m already able to hit a high G. Of course, I’m already really good at reading music because of my training on piano. I had to learn to transpose, but that’s not really that hard. So I was able to learn how to play a lot quicker than the rest of the class. Most of the other kids have difficulty hitting the right harmonics, but like…”

“Um, Ashley?” Tasha interrupts me. “You do realize that none of us are in band, right?”

“So?”

“So, we… don’t really care that much.”

I look at the other two to back me up, but they’re concentrated on eating their food. 

“Alright, fine,” I say. To recover from the awkward moment, I start peeling my banana. It’s already all bruised…

* * *

The memory still makes me a little angry. Why did she have to interrupt me like that? Sure I was being a little annoying, but I don’t think it was worth that cold of a response. Not like it matters.

Aiko wasn’t at that camp, as unlike the rest of us, she wasn’t from a religious family. But I liked to imagine that if she had been there, she would’ve come to my defense. Well, looking back on it now, she probably wouldn’t have after all. I guess I was stupid for getting so attached to Aiko. She ended up being just like the rest of them. Sometimes, I wonder if all of them somehow already knew about me being gay, and they were just looking for a reason to get rid of me.

So, I learned from my experiences that nobody wants to listen to me brag. That’s fine. I decided that I didn’t need anyone else to hear it. I stopped trusting in other people to get my self-worth. I redoubled my efforts in academics and music, and let my achievements do the talking. And I’m still hated by people who are jealous of my skills. The difference is, now I don’t care.

After losing all my friends, I got a sort of second chance when my parents decided to move away from Concord, California, and came to live here in Enchantment City, Texas. Enchantment City is a thoroughly unremarkable town that may as well not even exist, planted right in the suburbs north of Austin. They came here for the same reason why Californians are flocking to Texas in general: Lower taxes and lower cost of living. In addition the live music scene in Austin is famous, hence why we’re here specifically. Less time travelling to gigs is ideal when they’re one of your only sources of income. The move to Texas also presented an additional opportunity for my dad; he’s been using his compositional skills to provide music for churches, which has given us a nice cushion in our income for the first time.

After we moved here, I made sure that nobody ever learned about what kind of person I am. To this end, I have very few friends, and I avoid interacting with most people. Even with my one friend who I genuinely like and trust, Zoe, I haven’t gone into detail about anything that happened before I came here. Even though I’ve unfortunately become attached to her in the same way I was to Aiko, I keep a bit of distance between us. There’s no timeline involving me trying to escalate our relationship that has a positive outcome. Either she doesn’t like me back, and it’s Aiko all over again, or she does, and I end up dragging her into the type of bullying and torment I received in my final days at El Dorado.

Anyways, now that my practice session has been ruined, I’m not sure what to do. Maybe go to bed early, as it is getting dark. But… I feel restless for some reason. I walk out of my room.

In the kitchen, Mom is washing dishes. My mom and I look very similar to one another. We both have long red hair and bright green eyes. We’re both on the tall side by female standards; I’m about 5’10’’, and I think Mom is either the same or an inch shorter. (Note for international readers: 5’10’’ is about 1.78 meters.) That said, you can see some of Dad on me in some subtle details. For one, he’s probably where the extra inch came from, as he’s about six feet tall; and compared to Mom, my face is a bit thinner, and I lack her dimples. (Thankfully, I didn’t inherit my dad’s poor eyesight.)

When she sees me walking by, she gives me a small smile. “Tomorrow’s a big day for you, how are you feeling?” She asks.

“Fine,” I say.

“It’s okay if you’re nervous, you know,” she says. “It’s your first day of high school. You’re going from being the top of the pack, to the bottom. Now you’re going to have to compete with those upperclassmen.”

This isn’t true. Well, it is true that I have to compete with the upperclassmen, but they’re of no concern to me. Even though I’m just a freshman, I was let into the Symphonic Band, the higher of the two in the high school’s band program. Only two other freshmen also made it in, one of them being Zoe. In her case, it probably helps that she’s the only bassoon player at the school.

Honestly, I’m sure it’s not going to be that different from junior high. Just a bigger school with more assholes to deal with. Harder schoolwork, though it’s nothing I can’t deal with. Marching band is a thing now, but to be fair that’s already been a thing for the past few weeks thanks to boot camp.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Mom says, a hint of teasing in her voice. “You’re being awfully quiet.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say. To prevent her from asking me any more unnecessary questions, I walk into the living room, where Dad is watching TV.

Unlike either of us, my dad has brown hair that is short, but reasonably thick, and he wears a round pair of glasses with a thin, metallic rim. He’s watching some news channel. Apparently there are riots happening in Ferguson, Missouri. That’s great. He’s so engrossed in it that he doesn’t notice me sitting down.

Honestly, I’m not sure why I came out here. This isn’t making me feel any better. All it does is remind me the fact that my newfound mistrust in other people also extended to my parents somewhat. It’s technically not their fault. But I have no idea how they would’ve reacted to that particular revelation, and I have decided not to take the risk.

That’s another decision I made the same day that I fell out with Aiko. Once again, a memory flashes through my head of what happened when I got home from school that day…

* * *

I feel numb. I feel nothing but numb. I don’t want to think about anything. I can’t.

I hear the sound of the door opening and closing.

“Hey Ashley! I’m home!” My father’s voice says.

I can’t find it in me to respond. I just sit there. Blank. My eyes are glued to the television screen. I’m watching a rerun of some old Nick show.

After about a minute, I hear my father’s voice again.

“Hey, didn’t we still have half a tub of ice cream left? Don’t tell me you ate all of it! That’s not good for your teeth.”

I don’t say anything. An empty tub of ice cream sits to my left, the spoon still sitting on the inside.

I hear footsteps behind me, indicating that my dad has entered the room. I’m expecting him to yell, but instead, there’s a few seconds of silence. And then...

“Well… on the other hand, I’m not a big fan of caramel in ice cream, so I’m glad you finished it off for me.” I hear him shifting around behind me, and then I feel him scratching my back. “Rough day at school?”

I don’t say anything. How can I explain what happened?

I already lost all of my friends. I can’t risk losing my parents, too.

“Hey, I think I remember this,” my dad says. “What’s this show called again?”

“Hey Arnold,” I say weakly. “It’s an old Nickelodeon show.”

“Hey, it’s not that old!” my father says. “I think this was coming out around the time your mom and I got married, when we had first moved here… okay, I guess that’s old for you.”

There was a minute of awkward silence, and then he puts a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, um… If you need to talk, you can always come to your mom and I. You can tell us anything, I promise.”

I don’t say anything to this.

Still just numb.

If only he knew...

After a while, he sighs, and then exits the room.

Meanwhile, in Hey Arnold, Arnold and an old man wearing a sort of pilot’s hat walk through a door onto a roof. Everything up there had been trashed, and was lying in ruins.

“What?” Arnold asks. “This is awful! Who did this?”

The other man sadly begins walking away. “People, Arnold,” he says.

“We can rebuild your cages… and sweep up,” Arnold says hopefully, putting a piece of furniture back upright. “Your birds will come back!”

“Of course they’ll come back,” the man says, standing near the edge of the roof. “They’re birds. I trust them. I understand them. It’s people I don’t understand. You see Arnold… it’s time for me to leave here. Some people are meant to be with people. And some people, like me, are just… different.”

* * *

You know… I changed the channel after that part, so I never found out how that episode ends.

Damn it… I hate this. I thought it was all behind me. Why do these thoughts about my past have to torment me now? I pull myself out of my memories, and get up from the couch to head back into my room.

Truth is, I’ll never forget how I felt that day. I felt like everyone hated me. I even wondered if God Himself hated me. I thought I was sick. I prayed to be healed… and it never happened. Well, in hindsight, that should’ve been obvious. He wasn’t letting me out of that particular bind so easily.

I just feel more and more frustrated the longer that I sit here. I grab my phone from my night stand and open up Skype. I feel like I need to get this off my chest…

I’m about to click on Zoe’s name, but then… I stop myself. Zoe’s just about the only person I have left that I trust. If I lost her friendship… well, I don’t want to think about it. So no, I still can’t tell her about this.

Well, I guess there is someone else I could message: A sophomore trombone player in marching band named Anja. We didn’t know each other before marching band boot camp. For our lunch breaks, most of the other kids would go home to eat, allowing them to come back for the afternoon session showered and with a change of clothes. However, there was always a pocket of ten or so kids who sat and ate sack lunches in a hallway near the band hall. At some point, Anja randomly started sitting by me and making conversation. I’m pretty sure she only did it because she doesn’t really have any other friends. But regardless, she eventually harassed me into giving her my Skype info.

But who am I kidding? Telling her about any of this is out of the question. I barely know who this person even is, and she could be a gossiper. She doesn’t really seem like it given that she’s not exactly popular, but Aiko didn’t seem like a gossiper either, so there you go.

Well… I’ve never really been into journaling, but maybe now’s the time to take a stab at it. The trouble is, I don’t know if I have any spares. I have several new ones that I got for school, but I’d prefer to keep more personal things separate from that. I decide to check and see if I have any extras in my closet.

After digging through it a bit, I do find an empty journal. It’s a thin, brown one. It looks old and tattered, but nobody’s ever written anything in it. Where did this thing come from? I don’t remember ever seeing it before. Well, it’ll do, anyway. I open it up on my desk and start writing.

“Entry date: August 24, 2014.

My name is Ashley Davis. As an experiment, I would like to begin keeping a private written journal. The key word there is ‘private.’ That means that if anyone else is reading this, you must close it and walk away right now. If I ever discover that you read past this point, you will be subjected to unimaginable pain. This is your last warning.”

I figured it was only fair to give the hypothetical snooper a chance to back away now, so I make a page break and continue on the other side.

And… I write for quite a while actually. I write about how angry I still am at my friends. And about how that anger got turned around towards society as a whole. I wrote about how I feel about Zoe, and how afraid I am of her finding the truth about me.

I stop for a minute to admire my work, to check it for any grammatical inaccuracies, and to appreciate how cleanly I managed to articulate myself.

And then, I watch every word I just wrote fade from the page, and it reverts to looking as if it had never been written on.

Nothing could have prepared me for something this utterly absurd. Immediately, I am on high alert, mulling over every possibility of what this could be. Am I dreaming? Is there something wrong with the paper, or the pencil? Is there some serious supernatural bullshit happening? Am I hallucinating?

And then, something appears in its place right before my eyes, something written in a loopy handwriting that is not my own.

**~Beginning of Movement I: Shattered Dreams St.~**


	2. Immune System (August 24 Part 2)

“Hi Ashley. I am terribly sorry, but I just read what you wrote. I promise I didn’t mean to. I really didn’t have a choice.

“I know exactly how you feel. You have to put on a facade to hide what it is that you truly are, because you believe that it is shameful, or at the very least everyone else does. It’s a horrid existence. I knew it once, for all too long.

“I think that perhaps I can help you. I can tell you’re the type of girl who has a vision. Who wants to make an impact. If you follow my advice, you can do much more than you ever imagined was possible.” Then, after I read it, the text fades, leaving the page blank once again.

Well. How do you respond to  _ that _ ?

Let’s start with a recap. So, I write my deepest trouble into this dusty old journal that was inexplicably sitting around in my closet. My writing disappears, and now disembodied text is telling me that it wants to… what? Give me therapy? Get me to do its bidding?

I do not have too much unusual supernatural experience. I’m a Christian, so obviously I believe in the supernatural, but… not THIS kind of supernatural.

My first inclination is not to trust this. This is some type of spirit trying to fuck with me, or worse. If it needs a vessel like this to talk to me, there’s no way that the nature of this thing is benevolent. On that note, I have already told this thing way too much. I should not give it any more personal information.

Further, I wonder if I shouldn’t just destroy this book right now. Then again, with no basilisk fangs lying at my ready, who knows if an object such as this even could be destroyed.

Ultimately, I decide to try and question it.

“Who or what are you?” I write.

The words fade and, on the page appears this:

“If we’re going to do this, you need to trust me. Check your phone.”

And what is there to do but check my phone?

And that’s when I see it. A new app has appeared, a jarring black and red icon that resembles an eye.

And that’s the moment that I decide I’ve had enough.

I shut the book and, to be on the safe side, throw it across the room. I then go to delete the red icon…

But when my finger touches it, I get a dizzy feeling and the world itself seems to shimmer. And when it focuses again, I find myself somewhere I’ve never seen before in my life.

Well, actually that’s not completely true. The place I end up in looks exactly like my room; same dimensions, same furniture, etcetera. Except for the tiny detail that everything, the walls and every piece of furniture, is dark and untextured, and the only light comes from glowing red and purple veins that run across everything.

I jolt to my feet, my brain charging to try and make sense of everything that has happened, emotions crashing into me like tidal waves. Confusion, anger, and worry setting in.

And though I hate to admit it, there is one emotion I feel more strongly that all of the others: Fear.

* * *

Where am I now? Am I in the same place, but my vision is distorted? Am I in a parallel world? Is this all an illusion? Am I just developing schizophrenia? (Probably not the last one.)

I look to the other side of the room, where… the book is gone. Well, that’s just peachy.

I get my phone back out, but I’m not able to unlock it. That damn thing must not want me to leave just yet.

I take off from my room and down the hall. Passing the bathroom, I notice that the toilet looks just as weird as everything else. If I have to pee while I’m in here, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.

I head to my parents’ bedroom. As I pass through the living room, I feel a strong presence coming from their room. I can’t describe why I feel this way, it’s like… my body is anticipating something. Or someone.

However, when I walk into their room, there is nobody there. Interestingly, there is a red aura lighting the room, as if there’s some giant lamp I can’t see hanging overhead.

I wonder what my parents would think if they could see me now. Would they be angry? Concerned? Either way, they probably would not give me a free pass to mess around with this supernatural stuff to my heart’s content (if that’s even what this is.) I decide that I probably should not tell them about this unless I have to. Another secret to add to the list.

My next stop is the front yard. If the  _ inside  _ of the house looks this fucking bizarre, I can only imagine what it looks like outside.

The outside does not disappoint. Everything else looks just like the inside of my house. The sky is pitch black, with not so much as a star or the moon to light it. In the distance, dark fog obscures the horizon. No sign of any other life anywhere. Just me.

And then… my cell phone rings. I pick it up. Unknown caller, no number. Well, not answering that.

The unknown number immediately calls back. I hang up again. This happens about three or four times in a row, and then I start to get seriously unnerved by it.

So, I can’t use my phone in this weird place, but I can still receive calls? I think this may be the same being that was talking to me through that journal. Well, maybe I should answer, then. I’ll give the bitch a piece of my mind for violating my privacy.

“Hello there, Ashley!” Says a woman’s voice on the other end.

“I’m sorry, I think you have the wrong number,” I say. “I don’t know who you are. Please don’t call this number again. Bye.”

I hang up. I don’t even have time to think for a second about what I’m going to do next before it rings yet again. Guess that didn’t work.

“Hello there, Ashley!” The woman says again, as if the last call hadn’t happened.

“Who are you?” I ask sternly.

“My name is Lucy,” she says.

“Are you the bitch who read my journal?” I ask her aggressively. “Because I think I made myself perfectly clear that was supposed to be PRIVATE. If you tell a single soul what you read in there, I will find out where you live and tear out your lungs with my bare hands.”

“Wow… don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

“You better fucking not. And you should really ask people before you… uh… do whatever it is that you did.”

“So assertive. I think that we’re going to get along very well, Ashley. I’m taking a liking to you already. You’ll be perfect for what I have in mind.”

“And just what is that?”

“Well… we’ll discuss it as we go. First things first, I want you to head to whatever church you attend. If you’re not a churchgoer, just go to whichever one is closest to you.”

“Why?”

“I’ll explain when you get there.” She hangs up.

Wow, what the fuck. That literally didn’t explain anything. Is there any way I can call her back? Huh. Looks like I actually can, surprisingly.

“Ashley? What’s up?” She asks.

“Yeah, can I have a moment of your time? I have a quick question,” I say in a fake polite voice.

“Sure.”

“What the hell is this??? Where the hell am I??? Am I even still alive? Why does everything look weird? Where are my parents? Who the hell are you? What…” That’s it. Just “What.” That pretty much says it all.

“Okay, I’ll give you the rundown. Sorry about that,” She says. “You’re in a world that’s parallel to your world. For the time being, it should be mostly empty. You won’t see anyone else in your town walking around. Actually, if you did, that would be a huge problem… Any more questions?”

“Uh, yeah, just one more teensy thing. Why should I trust a single thing you say or do a single thing you tell me to?”

I hear her giggle from the other end, which annoys me. “Well… do you want to have the power to change the world or not?”

This makes me pause for a moment, admittedly. I’ve generally given up on trying to “change the world” and instead have been focusing on survival. But… if given the chance, there are definitely some changes I’d like to make.

“Lucy, are you a demon?” I ask.

“No. I’m a human, just like you.”

“Okay, that’s almost worse, honestly,” I tell her.

“Why? Are you misanthropic?”

“Kinda.”

“Well, that’s a common belief among people that the rest of the world has forgotten about. It is rather discouraging, just watching other people destroy each other for no good reason. But… Ashley, do you still believe? That good will triumph in the end?”

“Define ‘good,’” I answer.

“Hmm. Smart girl. Okay, I’ll tell you what. Head to your church like I asked you, and we’ll talk more when you get there.” She hangs up.

Well… that at least explains a couple of things. It doesn’t change the fact that this whole thing is utterly insane. A parallel world? Of all the theories I rapidly came up with, that was the one I considered the most unlikely. And the fact that I don’t even know the nature of this world is worrying. Lucy seems to want me to help “change the world” so that “good will triumph,” but that language is so vague that it borders on emotional manipulation.

Still, I can’t go back to my world for now, and I don’t have any other leads on what to do. I guess I'll go back to church for today to hear her out. Then, I’ll be able to judge for myself whether this is really something I should be involved with, or just a siren song for the foolish.

It’s a pretty decent walk to get there, about 20 minutes. But I guess I’m in good enough shape thanks to marching band that I’m able to go the whole way without getting tired… in fact, the walk doesn’t make me feel any sort of fatigue at all.

The church is in the middle of a residential area, surrounded by small houses. It’s not quite a mega-church, but it’s still pretty big, probably the largest one in town other than the Catholic church.

I walk up to the sign in front of the building. Normally, the words “First Baptist Church” are printed there, but now it’s blank, only covered by one particularly large vein that goes straight over the top. Very helpful.

I enter through one of the side doors. Inside the building, the veins become thicker and more plentiful, sprawling around in every direction across it. And there’s a very faint crimson-colored tint to the place. Like the black fog outside, it becomes more noticeable the further I look into the distance. I go through the wooden doors to the right to get to the sanctuary.

The sanctuary’s pretty decently sized, a stage in the front to my left, rows upon rows of pews, including a balcony in the back. Right behind the stage is an enormous stained-glass window. There is no design on it; however, it seems to have a strange quality; it’s black like oil, but also strangely shiny.

Now that I’m here, I call Lucy back. “I’m here. You better start explaining yourself,” I say.

“Good. Are you in the sanctuary?”

“Yep.”

“Do you see anything unusual there?”

“This whole place is unusual. That said… there is something weird about the stained-glass window in the front.”

“There’s a reason for that. That’s what I call a ‘seal.’ If you break it open, you will gain the potential to have tremendous power.”

“And what would I do with that power, hmm?” I ask, reminding her of her promise from earlier.

“Right. Let’s discuss that. The world you’re in is known as ‘The Metaverse’. Specific actions taken in here can affect the normal world, and I think that you may be strong enough to change the trajectory of society as a whole.

“Wait, change the trajectory of society as a whole?” I question her. “Wow, when you said ‘change the world,’ you really meant it literally?”

“Yes, I certainly did. You see, Ashley, our nation is sick, and people like you and I are like white blood cells.”

“But what exactly is your moral compass?” I question her. “What exactly would we change?”

“Well, for one, since we are among the very few in the world who are able to access such powers, it’s our responsibility to deal with people who act out of malicious self-interest.”

“I see,” I say “Can you give an example of what you count as ‘malicious self-interest’?”

“Quite the skeptic, are you? Well, that’s good, honestly. Examples would include: teachers who abuse their students, people who engage in other types of child exploitation, crime bosses, CEOs of major companies who treat their workers like dirt, legal system workers who try to subvert the judicial process, and national leaders with autocratic tendencies who engage in shady business to gain or hold on to power. That should give you a general idea of what kind of people we’re talking about here.”

“Hmm. Okay, that seems to check out,” I say. “I agree that each of those hypothetical people are bad. However, there are a fair number of unscrupulous people like that in the world, so we’d have to take down _ a lot _ of them to really change the overall course of society.”

“Well, that brings me to my next point. I have reason to believe that there is a demonic entity that has taken root in your region of the country,” Lucy explains. “The goal of this entity is unclear, as are its motives; this kind of stuff is a rather fuzzy science. However, there’s one thing I know for sure: this entity can and will create more of these people by directly distorting their desires.”

“Hmm. That’s concerning,” I say. “So you want me to go kill it for you?”

“It won’t be that simple, I’m afraid. The only way to find this being is to take down a large number of people whom it has had direct influence over.”

“Okay… killing evil demon things is one thing. Leaving a bloody trail of people I don’t like, on the other hand, sounds like something I’d rather avoid. I’m not  _ that _ misanthropic.”

“You don’t have to murder them. The Metaverse allows you to force them to have a change of heart.”

“Hmm. Now that’s very interesting.”

“Intrigued? Well, the first step to all of that is to break open the seal.”

I look back at the stained glass. I have to mull it all over for a little bit. On one hand, she makes a pretty good case. The more I listen to her talk, it seems as if she is definitely out to have a genuine positive impact on the world. That said, this situation calls for some level of caution. Literally just an hour ago, I had no idea any of this existed. I still don’t understand it very well. It’d be hasty to commit myself to anything without more details.

“I’ll think about it,” I say. “For the time being, what exactly is going to happen if I touch that seal?”

“It’ll give you an opportunity to awaken your Persona,” she says. “Your Persona is your true self, the side of you that you keep hidden from the rest of the world.”

“Really? How exactly is that going to help me?”

“Well, awakening it will grant you a great amount of power while you’re in the Metaverse.”

“But not in the real world?”

“Correct. There are certainly links between the two- I mean, it is the ‘Meta’ verse, after all- but your powers will only be active while you’re here.”

“And what exactly are these powers?”

“Your Persona will stand with you while you fight, allowing you to perform magic attacks. Personas can be strengthened through battling, so think of it as being like in a video game, where you have to get experience points to learn new skills. In addition to the Persona itself, you will be granted a spangly new outfit and some sort of physical weapon. Some enemies go down more quickly the old-fashioned way.”

I get a brief mental image of myself with war stripes on my face, brandishing an AR-15 while a wispy version of myself stands behind me.

“Hmm. Okay, then. I guess it doesn’t hurt to try it,” I say.

“Excellent. Let me know if you are able to awaken it,” she says. She hangs up.

I look at the stained glass once again. She didn’t really explain how I’m supposed to “break it,” but I’ve had enough talking for now. I’ll figure it out myself. I walk straight up to it and reach out with my hand.

Before I can even really touch anything, I am rewarded by being blinded by a bright light, as well as the ear-splittingly loud sound of breaking glass. It takes me some time to come to. And when I do, I turn around and survey the sanctuary to find six creatures circling around the stage like a pack.

They resemble coyotes, but they have blood red fur, and their legs and paws are made up of a strange, angular pattern. 

They look pretty hungry… I start feeling my body up and down, but I don’t feel any different, nor do I have any weapons. Damn it, was this all a ruse to get me killed? It was stupid of me to trust someone I just met.

I look to my left or right, and I don’t see any easy way of escaping. I guess this is the end, then. I always pictured my death happening under more… ordinary circumstances. And, you know, later. But at least the last few minutes of my life were interesting, I guess. It’s probably better this way, if I’m being truly honest with myself.

Then, I get a strange feeling… I hear a voice in my head. Not my own, but a man’s voice…

_ So this is it? You’ve hid from the world in fear for years now, and now you’re just going to accept your fate? What of the next person who has a story like yours? What will happen to them, because of what you left undone in your cowardice? _

_ I’m not a coward! _ I think back indignantly.  _ I’m not afraid of anything. _

_ Then prove it. Prove to me that you have the resolve to do this. It’s time for our final stand. _

I nod to myself. These odds may not be good. But if this is the end, I may as well go down swinging. I move to the front of the stage past the choir pews. I make a wide stance and draw my fists, as they’re basically all I have right now. And it's at this moment that I feel something change.

* * *

I’m in some sort of vertigo. I’m floating freely in space, surrounded by different shades of purple, pink and red, forming strange patterns like an old Windows screensaver.

Then, I see a man in front of me with flowing, shoulder length curly hair, two enormous wings, and a warrior’s garb.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“I am Saint Michael,” he says.

I blink in surprise. “Saint Michael… why have you come to me?”

“I am here to awaken the spirit of rebellion that resides within you,” He tells me sharply. “It is time for you to stop hiding from the world. Vow to me, and I will give you the power to do what you know you must.”

“Really? You want  _ me  _ for this?” I ask, taken aback by this. “That doesn’t seem right. But if that’s Your will, so be it.”

“Very well then. I will give you my power. With the help of the one I sent, you will be able to crush your enemies beneath your feet!”

* * *

My body convulses. I feel uncomfortably forced forward. It makes my arms tremble and knocks the breath out of my lungs. Without thinking, I reach up to my face, where a white mask has formed, which I promptly tear off. It hurts like hell, causing blood to pour out of the open wound, but I bear with a wince… Then, my whole body is engulfed in blue flames. When they burn out, I'm wearing a golden set of armor and brandishing a silver longsword. In the middle of my chest plate is a small indentation. And behind me, I could see the ghostly figure of St. Michael.


	3. Divine Purpose (August 24 Part 3)

The animals standing below me ought to be afraid, but they do not back down, growling more menacingly than ever. And so, feeling much more confident, I make the first strike.

I lunge forward, sending my new sword crashing down into two of the coyotes and knocking them into one of the pews with a thud. From there, the coyotes dissipate, disappearing into a dark mist.

But then, the others pounce onto me before I can reorient myself from the last attack. I pivot quickly to the left and manage to knock one of them backwards with my sword, but was too late to stop the others, who topple me onto the floor.

And so here I am, sitting here on my stomach, defenseless, feeling the other coyotes frantically scratching at my armor, trying to find bare flesh to tear into. I try to push them off, but they’re too heavy.

And yeah, I guess that’s pretty much it. I’m fucked.

At that moment, I hear a bang from right above me that echoes throughout the sanctuary in a cacophony. I feel a weight lifted from my back, and so I scramble to face forward and find that the four remaining coyotes were blasted several yards towards the other end of the sanctuary. They are badly hurt by whatever the hell just happened. The one I had knocked back now dissipates into the darkness with the first two, and the other three begin bounding around and back towards the stage area. They sail over the stairs, and then the choir podiums, until they go straight through the stained-glass window in the back.

And with that, it is dead silent.

I get to my feet and begin slowly turning to check my surroundings. And I'm quite startled when I find that on the stage behind me, a large blue armadillo stands on its hind legs. It's standing at only about 3 feet tall, has a red bandana covering its neck, wears a ten-gallon hat, and has a revolver in the holster of its belt. The armadillo tips its hat to me, and speaks in a deep, manly voice with a thick, southern accent; “Howdy, pardner.”

After all the confusion, stress and fear of what had just happened, I come very close to just bursting out into laughter right there. However, I manage to keep it together.

“Hello,” I say to it. “I don’t suppose you're the one who just saved me from those things, are you?”

The thing just looks at me, which I take as a yes.

If it weren’t for the fact that literally nothing that has happened so far has made any amount of sense, I probably would have been freaked out by this turn of events. But given everything else, sure, why not, why not just have a friendly chat with a talking armadillo that speaks like a stereotypical cowboy? That makes sense, right?

“Are you associated with Lucy?” I ask it.

“I don’t know who that is,” it replies.

Hmm. That’s interesting. Actually, wait a second… Lucy! She didn’t tell me I was going to be attacked! I get out my phone, which is now situated in a groove in my armor.

“Ashley! Were you able to awaken it?” She asks, sounding excited.

“Yeah, I did. I also almost fucking died, so thanks a lot for that.”

“I apologize for the trial by fire. Were there enemies that appeared nearby?”

“No shit there were! I got jumped by about six of these weird looking coyotes!”

“There were six of them? Oh my, that’s rather more than usual. And you fought them all off by yourself?”

“No, I would’ve died if I hadn’t been saved by this little talking armadillo guy.”

“Wait, Ashley. Are you sure that he’s not just another one of the enemies? On rare occasions, powerful ones may try and talk to you.”

“Well, it’s not attacking me, now is it?”

“Interesting… I’ve never heard of something like this happening before. Ashley, you need to find out what it wants.”

“Yeah well, maybe I’ll do that on my own time. I don’t really want to talk to you right now.” I hang up.

I let out a large sigh and turn back to the armadillo, who was waiting patiently for me to finish my conversation.

“Thanks for freeing me from my prison,” the armadillo says, tipping its hat politely.

“Um… you’re welcome?” I respond. “Not sure what I did, exactly.”

He gestures backwards towards the not-actually-stained-glass window.

“So you were trapped in there?” I ask it.

It nods in reply. “As a thank you for freeing me, I would like to give you this gift,” it says.

It pulls out a small, glowing pink object, and hands it to me. Observing it up close, it is clearly some type of gem.

“Um… thanks,” I say, taken aback by this.

However, the armadillo is pointing at me now. I look down and find that it’s directed at the small indentation in my armor.

Which looks like about the right size for the pink gem to fit into.

I go ahead and put the gem in there. I find that it sort of locks into place; like it was meant to be put there. Odd.

“Uh… so what exactly is this?” I ask it. “Is it just decorative, or does this actually do something?”

It shrugs. “Hell if I know,” it says.

So even the armadillo who gave it to me doesn’t know what it is. This... raises more questions than it answers. But I have more pressing things to worry about right now. 

For what it’s worth, I’m starting to take a liking to this armadillo thing. It did save me from being mauled to death, and unlike Lucy it’s not trying to boss me around.

“Do you have a name I can call you?” I ask it.

“Yep. Call me Ted,” it says. Or “he” says, I guess.

“Ted, huh. Well, thanks for saving me,” I tell him.

I pull my phone out again to try and find out if I have full functionality of it now. I have a little more freedom than before; most of the apps don’t seem to work, but I do see that ugly red app from earlier. I try to click on it again.

Suddenly, I find myself back in the real world, back in my pajamas. It’s still dark because the lights are out, but it’s regular dark now. I’m still standing in the middle of the church, but now everything is back to normal, with the slightly ugly green carpet and wooden pews.

I look at the ground where Ted was standing, to see that he is now a regular-sized normal armadillo.

“Uh… Ted? Is that you?” I ask him.

“Yep. Still me,” he says. That voice coming out of a regular armadillo is… quite the experience.

“This is crazy,” I say. I click the app again, which sends me back into the so-called Metaverse. My armor reappears, as does the armadillo’s anthropomorphic form.

“Well, then… Ted,” I say, “It’s been a lot of fun, but I’m going to go home. I need to be up early for school tomorrow.”

I take off for the exit doors, but the armadillo calls after me. “You gotta take care when traveling outside in this world,” he says. “The shadows have been released.”

The shadows… does he mean things like those coyotes?

The ones which almost killed me?

“Hey Ted, how about you walk with me then?” I ask him. “You don’t seem particularly tied down right now.”

He nods in agreement, and we both exit the church together.

* * *

As we both walk back towards my house, we don’t have any more creature problems. I swear I can see some shadows lurking around in the distance, but nothing approaches us yet.

“So, Ted,” I say, “How did you get here?” Then I think better of that. “Actually, wait, better question. Who are you, exactly?”

“A forsaken soul,” He answers.

“The forsaken soul… of an armadillo?”

“No,” He answers. “I was a human. When I died, I was given this form and trapped in the Shadow Realm.”

I don’t like the implications of that.

“So,” I ask, “Does this happen to everyone when they die?” And that makes me think of another point. “Were those coyotes we took out also people?”

“No to both,” he says, which is a big relief because I wasn’t happy with the idea of spending the afterlife as a talking animal, wandering around an empty shell of the place I used to live. “I am a human soul who was trapped here for a purpose. The shadows are not like me,” he explains.

“What’s so special about you?” I ask him.

“I was given a chance for redemption,” he says.

“So, if the shadows are not like you,” I ask, “What are they, exactly? Are they demons?”

“Lost spirits,” he explains, “Aligned with neither good nor evil.”

“Well, those ones at the church seemed pretty evil,” I say. “If they’re not evil, why did they attack?”

“They’re just like regular animals; they need to hunt to survive,” he explains. “Some may be more intelligent than others. But most of the spirits who have grander agendas won’t bother passing over.”

“So, these coyote-like creatures just so happened to be wandering around that seal before I broke it?” I ask him.

“Coming into the Metaverse from the Shadow Realm required them to take on a form,” Ted explains. “They’ll resemble wildlife that’s from around here.”

“Okay, why?”

He shrugs.

At this point, we are about to arrive back in my neighborhood, but I still have more questions. “How do you know all of this?” I ask.

“Before I was sent here,” he explained, “I was told about this place by St. Michael.”

This catches me off guard. St. Michael… isn’t that the form that my Persona took?

“You know, I’m pretty sure I just saw that exact same guy,” I say, “Helping me back with the coyotes.”

“The fact that you saw His figure means that He’s marked you as His emissary,” he explains.

“Wow… really?” I say, amazed at this. “Well, I have no clue why He picked me, of all people. It kind of goes against conventional wisdom. But I guess Moses and Paul were both murderers, so it might as well be me.”

He doesn’t have a response for this, so we walk in silence for a little while longer.

I try to think back to when my Persona awakened… Even though it only happened basically a few minutes ago, I find that it’s difficult to recall that specific part of my recent memory. It’s like I temporarily went feverish. I can vaguely recall that I heard His voice in my head before I took the mask off, but I can’t really remember what we talked about… It bothers me. I feel like what we talked about was very important.

Then, I remember something else…

“So, if you were trapped here by the actual St. Michael,” I ask, “Where did you get that gem that you gave me back there?”

“St. Michael gave it to me,” he explains. “Said to give it to the one who frees me.”

“But… He didn’t tell you what it did?”

“Nope. But if He sent it with me, it must be important somehow.”

“…Yeah, you’d think so.” Wow, is that really the only explanation I’m getting for that? Maybe Lucy will know something… But I don’t really feel like talking to her any more tonight, so I make a mental note to ask about it some other time.

Eventually, we arrive back at my home. Which means it’s time to do some housekeeping.

“When I went back into the real world,” I explain to Ted, “You came with me. You took on the form of a real-world armadillo. That means, you’re going to need to stay somewhere safe while I go about my regular daily life.”

“You’re very kind,” he says.

Maybe he’s thinking that I’m going to let him stay in my room, so I need to dispel that misconception as soon as possible.

I point down the short end of the street. “Down there is a Methodist church that is next to a forested area. That would probably be the best place for you to hang out. If you hang around in the neighborhood, you’re liable to get yourself shot.”

“Are you coming back to the Metaverse?” he asks me.

Which is actually a great question.

“I don’t know,” I say. “It seems like we can talk to each other just fine in the real world, so if you don’t wander too far from that church I’ll come tell you myself when I figure it out.”

“When you come back, the shadows will be prevalent,” he says. “They sleep for now, for they have just been freed. But when we come back, they’ll be harder to avoid. You’re gonna have to learn how to fight, lassie.”

I wish I could argue, but I was the one who almost got my own dumb ass mauled not long ago.

“So learn to fight, I will,” I say.

And so we part ways. I head back inside my house so I can go back into the real world in the same place I left it.

* * *

I re-enter the real world once I’m securely back in my bedroom. The first thing I check is the place where I threw the journal earlier. It is indeed there, right where I left it. So, I guess not all objects from the real world follow me into the Metaverse. Similarly, not all objects from the other side follow me back, which is good, because I don’t think I have the closet space for a sword and a suit of armor.

What does alarm me is that the journal is a bit different than it was when I had it last. The pink gem that I had placed into my chest plate is in a groove in the center of the cover.

This is puzzling, but I try to put it out of my mind for the time being. I check my alarm clock to find that it’s 9:42, which means that actually barely any time has passed since I left. It seems that in the Metaverse, time progresses much more slowly

Anyways. Since I’m no longer feeling my restlessness from before, I really should just go to bed now.

That said, my brain is still reeling from the events of the day, so it takes me a little while to drift off. I just lay in bed for a while, my brain full of  _ Should I learn how to fight?  _ And  _ Is Ted a shadow too?  _ And  _ Have I really been chosen by an angel?  _ And  _ White blood cells?  _ And  _ What would Zoe think about all of this?  _ And all sorts of little tidbits like that. But eventually, I finally fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been traveling in the deserts of my mind 
> 
> and I
> 
> haven't found a drop.


	4. The Soapbox (August 25)

<Ashley>

And now it’s my first day at Enchantment City High School. After my mom drops me off, I enter the band hall, which thanks to boot camp is about the only part of this school that’s already familiar to me. I look around for a flash of blonde hair, but I don’t see her. So I take the time to put up my instrument.

As I put my combination lock back on, I see Mr. Castro, the band director, approaching from my right. He’s a bald, black man who always walks with a spring in his step.

“Good morning Ashley,” he says to me, with a slight bow.

“Mornin’,” I say. He’s probably the only person in the world right now who’s really happy that today is the first day of school. Still, I don’t mind him. From what I’ve seen so far, he’s competent.

Then, I see someone else approaching, who happens to be Anja. Big ol’ glasses, medium length brown hair, and an inexplicable smirk. Though she is in the year above me, you’d be forgiven for thinking she was actually younger; I tower over her by several inches, and her stature is tiny.

“Isn’t that a trumpet? What are you doing with that?” she asks me.

“Jazz band,” I say.

“Well, aren’t you a big shot,” she says, and even though it’s true she says it in a sarcastic tone of voice. “Show me your schedule,” she says abruptly, pulling out her own, which had been folded up in her pocket.

“Aren’t you a sophomore?” I ask. “We’re probably not going to have any classes together.”

“I know,” she says, “I just wanna see if we have lunch together.”

I set my backpack down on a nearby chair and fish out the folder my schedule is in.

“Awh hell yeah,” she says, “We do have the same lunch! I’m gonna go check Nova’s,” she says, right before suddenly running off.

I spend a few seconds wondering who or what Nova is before my attention is drawn to the one person who I actually did want to talk to this morning.

There’s Zoe, who had just walked into the band hall and was being greeted by some preppy girl. She’s got floofy blonde hair and blue eyes. She’s a bit shorter than me, but not as much as Anja, and with a bit more body. Today, she’s wearing a frilled light blue shirt, with sleeves that flutter and hang halfway down her upper arms, and a pair of close-fitting dark blue jeans.

I make my way for her just as that other girl fucks off, and she waves at me and gives me that sweet, genuine smile of hers.

“How’s it going?” I ask.

“Good!” she says. “Do you know where our first class is?”

We already compared schedules yesterday during church, and we both have first period English together.

“Guess we’ll have to find out,” I say. And so we take off to do just that.

* * *

Three classes and a band rehearsal later, we’re sitting down for lunch.

“What did you think of Ms. Truman?” Zoe asks, Ms. Truman being our new English teacher. “She seems nice.”

“Eh, I don’t really like her,” I say.

Zoe looks surprised. “Really? Why?”

“Something about her seems off to me,” I explain. “It’s like she’s a little  _ too  _ happy to see us.”

Then, someone sits down at the table right across from us. Oh yeah, Anja is in this lunch period. I had forgotten about that.

“Hey there Ash,” she says to me. Then, she sees Zoe and extends a hand out to her in greeting. “My name’s Anja. I’m in marching band with her.”

I glance over to Zoe’s face for a hint that she’s annoyed with the sudden interruption, but Zoe is receiving her warmly and shakes her hand. “Nice to meet you!” she says. “I’m Zoe. You’re in the trombone section, right?”

“Sure am,” she says. “I’m… uh…” she suddenly looks at us with a confused look. “I was trying to think of a trombone-related pun, but I couldn’t come up with anything in time.”

Zoe giggles at her. “I’m in the saxophone section,” she says. “Though my main, uh, my primary instrument is bassoon.”

“Ah, yet another multi-instrumena… instruma…  _ mul-ti-in-stru-men-ta-list  _ ,” she says. She grins, and gives me a knowing look that annoys me for some reason.

Then, someone else sits down next to her. It’s a brown boy about Zoe’s height who looks like his hair has never been brushed before. I guess that’ll be Nova.

“Oh, h-hello there!” Zoe says. She’s trying  _ so  _ hard to be friendly, but her confusion at the sudden visitors is starting to show a little bit, as she seems more nervous than before.

“Hey,” Nova says without looking at her.

“This is Nova,” Anja says, gesturing at him. “He’s one of my trombone pals. Nova, this is Ashley and… Zoe, right?”

Zoe waves cheerily at him. He’s still not looking at us and is instead reaching down to his backpack for something. I notice that he doesn’t actually have a lunch tray.

“So, Nova, what’s your story?” I ask him.

“What’s my  _ story? _ ” he asks. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what brings you here?”

“Oh.” He jerks his head at Anja. “She said I could sit with her.”

Anja smiles at me. “Yes, that’s true.”

He pulls something out of his backpack which looks a lot like that Nintendo DS I used to have, except a bit blockier. Must be a new model or something. Without saying another word, he starts playing it. Definitely not the social type, it seems.

“So, um, what do you guys think of your first day?” Zoe asks, nervously trying to steer the conversation back on track. “Any teachers you like?”

“Yeah,” Anja says, “My chemistry teacher literally dresses like and acts like a cowboy.”

A cowboy… for some reason, this stirs something in my memory.

Oh yeah, I remember what it is. All that weird shit from last night, with the armadillo. That actually happened, didn’t it. I guess I’m going to have to deal with that sooner or later.

Just to make sure that it wasn’t a fever dream, I take my phone out of my pocket, all the while Zoe is saying something about her French teacher that I don’t quite catch. I unlock it, and sure enough, there’s that fucking app. It really is quite an eyesore.

Something must have been showing on my face, because I can see Anja curiously leaning over to see what I’m looking at. Shit.

“Hey, what’s that?” Anja asks.

I instinctively yank it down and out of sight, which may not have been the best move because she’s now glaring at me suspiciously.

“It’s a smart phone, Anja,” I say. “They’re quite popular these days.”

“No, I mean that weird-“

I cut her off before she says anything else. “It’s none of your fucking business, okay?” I tell her in a low voice. “What’s on my phone is private. Learn some manners,” I continue, barely resisting the urge to adorn the last part with a choice insult.

Anja blushes slightly, looking mollified. Thankfully, she makes the wise choice to drop it after that.

“Aren’t you a sophomore?” Zoe asks Anja, covering up the awkward moment. “Do you expect your classes this semester to be difficult?”

“Uh… yeah, I’m sure it’s going to be all the usual shit,” Anja replies, seizing the opportunity to get the conversation back on track. “I just can’t wait until my senior year when I take US Government.” Anja continues.

“Ah, you interested in that type of stuff?” I ask.

“Yeah. It’s actually somewhat of a family thing for me.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. You see… my mother was Ellen Beatty.”

Oh wow. That’s really interesting.

For background, Ellen Beatty was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2006. She ran against the incumbent Richard Schneider, who was elected in 2002 after upsetting Perry in the primaries. I was really young at the time and still living in California, so I don’t really remember it. But I do know that apparently it was actually a competitive race for once due to Schneider being unpopular. But then, a month before the election, Beatty suddenly died of medical complications, despite being very young at the time. Schneider kinda won by default, and has been in office ever since, which makes him the longest-serving governor in Texas’s history. He hasn’t had to deal with any seriously contested elections since then.

Zoe gasps, seemingly also recognizing the name. “You mean… the one who ran for governor?” She asks.

Anja nods solemnly. “Nearly turned Texas blue again, she did. And now, that probably isn’t going to happen for a very long time…” Anja sighed wistfully.

“You’re an odd breed around these parts, Anja,” I comment.

“Yeah,” Anja says, “Wish I could have grown up in California.”

“Uh, no you don’t,” I assure her. “The dumbasses who run that state have no clue how to manage the economy. There’s a reason why we moved here, you know.”

She gives me a suspicious glare for a few seconds… But then, she relaxes a bit and asks, “Out of curiosity, what do you parents do for a living?”

“Musicians, both of them,” I say.

“Ah, that does explain a lot about you,” she says, which I take as a compliment. “My dad’s a psychiatrist. That’s unusual, though; you make it sound like your parents lean Republican, but I’m pretty sure most people in the arts are liberal.”

“That’s true, fine arts people do by a huge margin,” I agree. “But no demographic of people is monolithic, even though media outlets try to make it seem that way.”

“So, why  _ did _ they come here, then?” Anja asks.

“Why wouldn’t they, is the better question,” I say. “Lower taxes and lower cost of living; a lot of businesses operate out of the state for a reason. Not to mention that Austin has a strong live music scene. We are also within driving distance of San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas, presenting more gig opportunities; and we can even make it to New Orleans and Kansas City for overnight trips.”

“Wow, you’ve been to New Orleans?” Anja asks, suddenly looking more cheerful.

“Yes, I’ve gone with them there a few times.”

“Uh… anyway,” Anja says, bringing back her intense gaze. “If you ask me, there are far more important things than how well the economy is doing. For example, I think it’s extremely important that we take care of those living in poverty.”

“The poor get helped too when the economy is doing well!” I retort. “My family was struggling to get by before. It’s only since we came here that we’ve become an actual middle-class family.  _ Everyone _ is a part of the economy.”

“But nowadays, most of the growth goes towards making the rich richer,” Anja replies. “So is economic growth really a good way to measure how well the needy are doing?”

I sigh. “It was never supposed to work that way,” I explain. “Economic growth  _ should _ go to the working class. That’s how the competitive spirit of capitalism sustains itself. The new capital can go towards starting new businesses, which makes it so the already big businesses can’t get too fat and happy. But yes, recently it hasn’t been working as it should, because the large corporations in power have used government policy as a weapon to suppress competition.”

“Yes! Now you’re speaking my language!” Anja agrees excitedly. “We need to get corporate money out of our government. No arguments there.”

“But think about it on another level. With the system in place as it is, large corporations have the jump on any changes to regulations or tax policy. They use their expert advisors in public policy to evade these policies, while small businesses are crushed by mountains of red tape. This encourages the constant buyouts, mergers, and consolidation that we see today. That is how big government economic policy often has the opposite effect that is intended.”

“But it would work if we got rid of the corruption!” Anja argues.

“Aren’t you listening? It doesn’t matter what the  _ intention _ behind the policies is. They don’t work.”

“So what? Is your solution to just remove all regulations? Do we not need laws to ensure workplace safety or environmental protection?”

“I never said that!” I growl, getting irritated with her attitude. “That’s a straw man argument, Anja. You’re trying to make me sound like an anarchist or something.”

“But that’s just what the Republicans in Congress want to do. They’re trying to get rid of all the regulations that they can, no matter how useful they are.”

“Well, how is that my fault? I don’t want that. I think we need  _ some _ regulations. We just have too many of them right now.”

“Hmm.” Anja narrows her eyes, as if surveying me intensely. “You’re all over the place with this stuff, Ashley. What would you consider your partisan affiliation to be?”

“How can I have one? I’m not even old enough to vote.”

“You know what I mean. Which side do you lean more towards?”

“Do I have to pick one?”

“Hmm. I suppose not.” She turns to Zoe, who has a slightly dazed look on her face. I get the impression that she lost track of the conversation a while ago. “What about you, Zoe?” Anja asks.

“Um… I don’t know much of anything,” she says nervously. “I haven’t thought about any of this stuff yet.”

“Well, you still have time,” Anja says. “What about your folks?”

“Um, they’re Republicans,” she says.

“Ah. Outnumbered, I see,” Anja laments. “Unless… Nova can help me out here?”

“Huh? Did someone say my name?” Nova asks, looking up from his DS.

“Who do your parents usually vote for?” Anja asks him.

“Oh, Dad doesn’t even bother,” he says. “He says that politicians don’t give a rat’s ass about any of us.”

“Hmm. Well, I guess I can’t blame him for that,” Anja says solemnly.

* * *

After lunch, I made a quick bathroom stop, only to find Anja waiting for me outside the bathroom.

“What do you want? Here to cram a copy of  _ A Treatise on Money _ down my throat or something?” I ask her.

“Um… I’m sorry I was looking at your phone earlier,” she says timidly.

“Uh, apology accepted,” I say. “Did you really wait for me just to say that?”

“Um… not exactly. What was that weird app on your phone?” She asks me in a low voice. “That red symbol that looks like an eye?”

Damn it. I need to remember to not open my phone in public as much.

“It’s just one of those stupid programs that phone companies put on there that nobody ever uses,” I say. “I don’t even know what it does.”

“I think I’ve seen that symbol somewhere before, though,” she whispers. “Ashley, are you into the occult, by any chance?”

“Uh, no. I’m a Christian, Anja,” I say. “I need to get to class. I don’t have time for this.”

Before she can say anything else, I take off for my next class. Hopefully she just forgets about that…

* * *

3 more classes, and then a marching band rehearsal, and I’m done for the day. Back at home, I take a few minutes to rest and drink some water before starting on practicing for all-region band again. Since I have a moment, I might as well give Lucy a brief update on what happened last night. I don’t think that giving her the cold shoulder for too long is in my interests.

When I’m alone in my room, I re-enter the Metaverse. Since I’m inside, I shouldn’t have any trouble with being bothered by shadows while talking to her, as they’re all wandering around outside. I give her a call, and she answers very quickly; must not have much of a daily life.

“Ashley! I’m glad to hear from you again,” she says.

“Well, wasn’t exactly in a huge rush to connect after you almost killed me,” I tell her snidely.

“I’m sorry, Ashley. But the awakening of one’s Persona requires them to face their fears head on; to unlock the spirit of rebellion inside of them. That’s hard to do when there’s nothing around  _ to _ fear.”

“Wait a minute. So, it wasn’t breaking the seal that unlocked my Persona; it was being attacked by the shadows?”

“Yes. Your Persona awakening could’ve technically happened at any time. But like I said, it generally has to be when you’re about to face an enemy. Without breaking the seal, those would’ve been very difficult to come by. So I hope you can understand why I told you to do what I did.”

“So all of that was just so I could unlock my Persona? There had to have been some other way. Even if we disregard the fact that I almost died, there are going to be shadows crawling all over the Metaverse around here because I broke that seal! Isn’t that just going to slow us down?”

“No, not really. You’re thinking about this backwards. Remember when I said that you can strengthen your Persona through fighting?”

I think back to last night. “Yeah, you might’ve mentioned it.”

“Well, you need to prepare for the upcoming challenges. Having a bunch of weak, neutral shadows loose is a good thing, as they’ll be perfect fodder for you to hone your technique and eventually gain new skills.”

“Huh. And what kind of skills will I be gaining?”

“As you battle more, your Persona will become more powerful. That means that you’ll have new magic abilities that you’ll be able to use.”

“And how will I know when I get these?”

“You’ll just… know. I think you’ll find it quite intuitive.”

“Well, okay then,” I say. I would’ve preferred a better explanation than that, but if she’s correct, I suppose I don’t need one. I guess I’ll take her word for it, for the time being.

I still don’t really understand why she couldn’t have at least warned me about the shadows. But at this point, I’d rather just move along with the conversation. I give her a brief recap of what happened after I hung up on her, including the information I was able to glean from Ted.

“Hmm… That’s very interesting,” Lucy says. “He says he was sent here by St. Michael, the literal archangel Himself? That would be… entirely unprecedented. I’ve plunged the Metaverse for decades now and have yet to make any contact with heavenly beings. I think it’s probably more likely that he’s just a little bit on the cuckoo side.”

It’s a bit disappointing that she thinks that. Maybe I’m being stupid, but I found the idea that I have the approval of an angel very validating.

“Well, I think I’m going to keep him around anyway,” I tell her. “He seems like he may be useful in battle.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

“And by the way, there is one other unusual thing about him. After I released him, he gave me this sort of pink gem…”

Before I can even finish my sentence, Lucy audibly gasps. “Really? A little bit larger than a grape?”

“Uh, yeah. Do you know what it is?”

“Oh my gosh, Ashley. That’s terrific news. But how…” She stops talking for a little while.

“Uh… how what?” I ask her, growing impatient.

“There are… other gems like that in existence, but very few,” Lucy explains. “I have one myself that’s purple… and there are two others in existence that I know of. I have never heard a single thing about there being a pink one. Hmm… maybe Ted really is an agent of a higher power.”

“Wait, hold a moment. Why is this little gemstone so important? He didn’t even tell me what it did.”

“It probably won’t do much at first. But… if you grow your Persona to a certain point, the gem will grant you an extremely potent extra set of powers. Each gem has them, and they’re all completely distinct from one another. For example, my purple gem gives me one combat ability and one general one. In battle, it gives me the power to create powerful wind attacks that my regular Personas can’t, such as the ability to form tornadoes which can tear through my opponents. It also gives me some limited ability to influence the minds of others nearby me and hear what they’re thinking. Your stone’s abilities won’t be exactly like that, but that should give you a general idea of what kind of thing we’re talking about.”

“So, I’m just gonna have to figure out what it does on my own?”

“Yes. Once again, you’re not going to see the effects of this immediately, since you’re not even done exploring your own Persona’s power. But… when you are able to take into the power of the stone… you’ll know.”

“Hmm. Well, that’s a really lucky find then.”

“Yes it is. I expect you’ll find plenty of use for it in our mission eventually.”

“Speaking of the ‘mission.’ How do I get started with changing people’s hearts?” I ask.

“Wow, for someone who was so cynical of me yesterday, you’re very eager to get started now,” she says teasingly.

“I’m just curious. I’m not promising anything yet,” I clarify.

“Alright, then. Well, first, you obviously need to find someone whose desires have become distorted. Generally, the biggest cases will be people in positions of power. Power tends to corrupt, after all.”

“Hmm… well, that’s interesting to hear. So someone with any kind of concentration of power is liable to have their desires distorted?”

“Yeah, I’d say so. Power is by no means required to be a bad person. But more power means more influence, so it’s these types of people who are most prone to be targeted by the entity I mentioned yesterday.”

This catches my interest. From the way she’s describing this, you can use this power to dish out vigilante justice to politicians and corporations alike. As well as any other institution… this may be exactly the type of thing I’ve been hoping for.

“Anyways, you should then find at least one person who has been directly hurt by this person’s actions,” Lucy continues.

I groan. “You mean I have to get other people involved in this?”

“Yes, Ashley. What kind of revolution is carried out by just one girl and an animal sidekick? Anyways, you’ll then need to find the villain’s palace. Palaces appear in the Metaverse as manifestations of one’s distorted desires.”

“Um… what exactly do you mean by a ‘palace’? You mean these distorted desires will form fancy looking buildings?”

“Well, maybe, but the term ‘palace’ is also more general than that. It can take any number of forms. The only clear marker is that it’ll be clearly distinct from the rest of the Metaverse.”

“Okay then. What do I do when I find one?”

“These palaces will be filled with puzzles and enemies. They will be themed around what type of distorted desires that the villain has. This is why it’s really helpful to talk to someone who’s been directly hurt by them; they’ll be able to tell you about them before you enter, so you can be prepared for the types of challenges you’ll face. At the end, you will need to fight the boss, who will likely take on a more monstrous form.”

“A ‘monstrous form?’ Like what?”

“It can be any number of things; anything from a giant, twisted version of the person’s appearance, to some type of animal, to a mythological creature, or even something more abstract. Whatever it is, you’ll need all of your wits about you to face one of these. Personally, I wouldn’t even try it until you have at least four people with awakened Personas.”

“Damn. That sounds like quite an undertaking.”

“Well, if you want to change their heart, that’s what you have to do, Ashley.”

“Alright. Well, you’ve given me… quite a lot of information. I need some time to mull this over.”

“Okay. I’ll be here when you’re ready.” She hangs up.

I take myself back into the regular world, and just sit on my bed for a little while.

Well, that’s all very interesting. It makes me wonder what kind of villainous people may be living nearby. I bet at least one of the teachers at school has skeletons in the closet. Of course, I’m not really one to know about rumors like that. Maybe I should ask Zoe… or maybe there’s a more direct way of learning about things like this.

Anyways, guess there’s not much point in worrying about it now. For the time being, I try to get myself focused on practicing and doing homework.


	5. First Impressions (August 26)

<Zoe>

“Hey. Hey. Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup-”

It feels as if someone is shaking the bed. I try to remember what I had just been dreaming about. It had been a happy one. I believe that it had something to do with Ashley, but the details are slipping away now…

“Hey, you gotta get up, Zoe. Mom’s about to finish breakfast!”

I give up and open my eyes. There, at my bedside, is my younger brother, Collin, no doubt sent here by my parents.

“I’m awake,” I tell him to calm him down.

He grins. “About time! I’ve been here for like a minute.” He then proceeds to jump to his feet and take off out of my room in almost a run.

Collin is only one year below me in school, but somehow through the years he has yet to lose his youthful spirit. You can tell we are siblings by our matching blonde hair and blue eyes, which are also shared by my mother and my two older brothers. His is getting to be almost as long and curly as mine, which is something I expect our parents will put an end to soon.

So, I arise from my bed, get dressed as best as I can, and head downstairs.

My mother is indeed already setting the table with plates of scrambled eggs. My father is sitting on the couch, holding a newspaper in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other, as is his typical morning routine. My second oldest brother, Derrick, is setting his backpack on a chair by the front door. (My oldest brother, of course, is not here; he is beginning his first year of college at Texas A&M.) Collin is mysteriously absent. (Where could he have wandered off to since waking me up? Perhaps he is washing his hands.) And finally, our own golden retriever, Shadow, runs straight up to me for attention.

I’m Shadow’s favorite. I was the one who convinced Mom and Dad to take him home. They wanted to get a dog who was younger. But I just fell in love with Shadow as soon as I looked into his literal puppy dog eyes. The vet said that his previous owners abused him. It was hard to even take him on walks at first. He would take a few steps and then just stop, worried that he was about to be punished for something. It just broke my heart.

“Who’s a good boy?” I croon at him, as I pet him along his back.

My petting of him is interrupted by my mother, who had finished setting the table and is now letting him into the back yard. Afterwards, she turns to me, and subsequently puts her hands on her hips. For such a thin woman, she could, when desired, create quite a foreboding presence.

“Why, surely, you do not intend to wear that to school today?” she asks me sternly.

I feel a stab of shame. I had dressed in my favorite pair of jeans, and a red t-shirt from the junior high I attended last year,  _ Bynum Intermediate School. _

“You’re a high school student now,” she says. “You can’t be walking between your classes in a regular old t-shirt. You’ll be outdressed.”

This is not necessarily the case. Based on what I observed yesterday, most students seem to dress at about the same level as I am currently. Ashley was even wearing sweatpants.

“I will change, then,” I tell her, turning back to my room to do so. Satisfied, she hovers away to begin rounding up the boys for breakfast.

It is not my place to question my mother on these things. Being the only daughter of four children, my mother and I always had a special one-on-one relationship. Growing up, she was my teacher in all feminine matters.

As I am walking back to my room, Collin suddenly bursts out of his, as the doors to our rooms are right next to one another. So, he was not washing after all.

“Why did you go back into your room?” I ask him, curious. “What were you doing?”

“Nothing,” he says, seeming annoyed with me for asking. Without further ado, he takes off for the breakfast table.

Ah, his evasive manner is not unusual these days. I’m afraid he is going through quite the rebellious phase.

* * *

My first class after lunch is Pre-AP Biology. Unfortunately, Ashley is not in this class with me, though she does have the same teacher the period after me. Fortunately, I have other friends in this class: Terra, Diana, and Yonca.

As I take my seat at our table, they are already in the midst of chattering about something.

“I heard a rumor that he only got into Symphonic Band because his dad is friends with the band director,” Diana is saying. Diana is close to my height and has straight, dirty blonde hair that she usually keeps in a ponytail. Her sweet-looking, dimpled face masks a vicious gossiper. Many of her sentences begin with the words “I heard a rumor that…” and it seems as if now is no different.

“Who are you talking about?” I ask curiously.

“She’s talking about Mason,” Terra explains. Terra is the tallest of our group and has a cool and in-control temperament. She has brown hair which is very neatly kept; there’s not a single loose hair sticking up. “Diana, are you sure you’re not just jealous that you didn’t get into Symphonic Band?” She asks.

“I’m not jealous!” Diana replies, going a little pink in the face. “I’m just saying, think about it. We all knew Ashley was going to get in, the showoff that she is. And she-” she gestures towards me- “Got in because the other bassoon player quit. But why him? What’s so special about him?”

“Well, he is a very good player,” Yonca argues. She has olive skin and long, dark hair, as well as being very short; I’m not even sure if she’s five feet tall. Despite being unusual around here for being a Turkish immigrant, she’s a very sweet person. “Remember how he made first at the all-region tryouts in 8 th grade? He might be good enough to be in Symphonic Band already.”

“Yeah, well, that was junior high. High school is a whole different ball game,” Diana insists.

“Well, it’s possible that Mr. Castro let him in to keep Ashley’s ego in check,” Terra theorizes while giving me an odd smile. Mason and Ashley have a notorious dislike for one another.

“Hmm… yeah, maybe,” Diana says.

“How’s your first week of school so far, Zoe?” Terra asks me.

“Oh, it’s been going pretty well so far,” I say. “I made some new friends yesterday during lunch!”

“Oh, well that’s good to hear!” Terra says. “Just make sure that you’re not getting involved with anyone of the  _ wrong sort _ .”

“What do you mean by that,” I ask.

“Oh, you know… Anyone who’ll drag you into doing something you shouldn’t be doing,” she explains. “Anyways, I think class is about to start…” Indeed, I can see Coach Everheart standing up from his desk to address us.

I’ve been friends with Terra and Diana for years, as we all go to church together. That said, when Ashley moved in, even though the two of us got along really well together, she never seemed to gel well with Terra or Diana for some reason.

Yonca moved in back in fifth grade. When we first met, she was a super shy girl who could barely speak English; but we decided to show her kindness and invite her into our group, and since then she’s adjusted pretty well. Even if it’s a small thing, I’m really pleased that we were able to make a difference for her.

* * *

<Gregg (Ashley’s dad)>

It’s a warm summer afternoon. Alyssa and I happen to be free for a few hours, so we’ve decided to drop by on a local politician’s rally. I strongly feel that it is necessary for a democracy to function that the citizens keep a close eye on what their representatives are doing. We can’t stick around for too long, however, as we need to pick up Ashley from school a little over an hour from now.

The public servant whom we are checking in on today is the local Justice of the Peace, Timothy Pavia. “Justice of the Peace” is a somewhat odd and archaic political position. Most states have done away with it entirely; however, Texas still continues to carry them. (Not surprising when you consider that this is the same state that still has a “Texas Railroad Commission,” which is actually responsible for energy regulation.) Even more unusually, the Justice of the Peace position here actually has a fair amount of duties; for example, he resides over some civil cases.

The rally is a decently sized crowd of people gathered under a pavilion that is next to a line of soccer fields. People are seated at picnic tables eating various home-cooked food items, mostly barbecue and mashed potatoes, and chattering amongst themselves.

“Think we should introduce ourselves?” Alyssa asks me, gesturing towards the front. Near the speaker setup, I see an older, balding man with tiny circular glasses. He would look rather like an old priest, except he’s dressed himself in flannel and jeans, clearly trying to fit in. That is most likely the man of the hour.

“Yes, perhaps we should,” I say in agreement. “It appears as if we still have a few minutes before the thing starts.”

We walk over to him, and Alyssa catches his attention by asking, “Good afternoon. Are you Justice Pavia?”

“Hmm? Oh, why yes I am,” he says, turning his gaze towards us.

Alyssa extends her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Alyssa Cooper.”

“Nice to meet you too,” he says, shaking it. “I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

“No, we haven’t. This is my husband, Gregg Davis,” she says.

“I’m glad we could make it out here today,” I tell him as we shake hands.

“And what do you two do for a living?” He asks us.

“Oh, we’re musicians,” Alyssa explains, grinning at him cheerily.

“I see. Well, we’re going to start pretty soon, so feel free to take a seat somewhere.”

“Will do,” I say, and we walk towards the picnic tables set up under the pavilion to do so.

Hmm. Our reception felt lukewarm to me. Sure, we are mostly nobodies around here, but I feel like that is no excuse for a politician to not try to be friendly. A while back, we had the pleasure of meeting our state representative, Andrew Casey. He seems like a very nice man, gave us the time of day and everything. Ah well. Pavia has been in office for quite a while, from what I can tell, and politicians who are in office for a long time have a tendency to become out of touch.

We are scanning the tables and are pleasantly surprised to see a couple of friends of ours sitting near open seats. The people in question are Abram and Marie Parker, who we know from church.

The Parkers have a few children, one of them being a girl about Ashley’s age named Zoe. Ashley and Zoe seemed to have developed a very special bond. I think it’s been very good for Ashley to have such a good friend, as she’s been very reclusive since we moved.

“Oh, why hello there!” Marie says in greeting as we sit across from them. “Fancy meeting y’all here!”

“Indeed it is,” I say.

“Well, it’s funny we ran into you two, since we were going to ask you something,” Abram says. “Since you got a lesson with her after band anyway, would you mind giving Zoe a ride home from school today?”

“Oh, no problem at all,” Alyssa says. Alyssa has been giving Zoe lessons on saxophone for a few months now. Zoe wanted to be in jazz band, and there aren’t exactly a lot of opportunities out there for jazz bassoon players. The timing worked out pretty well; bassoons don’t appear in marching band either. Now that she plays saxophone, she can play that for both ensembles.

I feel a bit hungry, so I take a look at some of the food that the volunteers brought. I pick up a rib, but something looks funny about it…

“You think these are fully cooked?” I ask Alyssa.

“Yeah, of course it is,” she replies.

“The meat looks rather red.”

“That’s  _ barbecue sauce,  _ dear.”

She turns towards Marie. “He’s still getting used to the way things are around here,” she jokes, putting on a slightly southern accent for effect.

She’s referring to the fact that Alyssa actually grew up here in Texas, so our move a few years ago was a return to somewhere familiar for her. However, for me, it’s been quite the adjustment, given that I lived in California my whole life up to that point. It somehow gets  _ even hotter _ here during the summer, for example.

“So, how is Patrick faring at A&M?” Alyssa asks.

“Oh, it sounds as if he’s been doing well so far,” Abram says.

“He’s gotten himself into a good faith group up there!” Marie says excitedly. “I’m proud to see him spreading the gospel to others his age. It’s upsetting to see so many of these Millennials rejecting faith.”

“Yes, it is,” Alyssa agrees. “Though I think that some of what’s been going on in mainstream religion is partially responsible for that…”

“If you ask me, it’s what’s happening in Washington D.C.!” Marie says, visibly starting to get worked up. “It’s bound to happen when you have a  _ Muslim _ in the White House…”

“Come on now!” I interject. “There’s no evidence of that. And even if it was true, it’s the policies that matter the most.”

“I mean. He clearly hates America,” Marie insists. “And if it’s policies you care about, those have been a disaster too.”

“Well, I can’t dispute that much,” I say. “The Affordable Care Act should have never been passed… Congress passing a bill so long that its members didn't have time to even read it was bound to backfire. And his foreign policy has been far too similar to…”

I am then interrupted by the horrible sound of microphone feedback. Justice Pavia picks up a microphone that was connected to a set of speakers and begins making opening comments.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” he says in a southern accent that sounds somewhat forced. “It sure is a pleasure to see you all- er, to see y’all here. I’m Tim Pavia, your incumbent judge. I just want to thank all of you for coming here in support of my re-election effort.”

I suspect that he has other motivations for holding this rally than re-election, since he’s only facing token opposition. The Democratic Party isn’t even bothering to run a candidate against him. His only opponent is an independent running from the right of him, who has no chance of gaining traction due to his previous ties to white supremacy. It’s more likely that he’s using this rally as a chance to connect with constituents; or, more likely, find new high dollar donors, given our reception a few minutes ago.

“I have been truly  _ blessed  _ to serve the people of Enchantment City for the past few years,” he continues. “It says in Romans 13:1, ‘There is no authority except that which God has established.’ So I will uphold my personal duty of being the hands of God’s morality in this world.” Applause from the crowd. “The righteous in society will be blessed with riches; that is what is written. And so you have all gathered here behind me…”

I kind of zone out about this time. It’s pretty normal for politicians around here to invoke religious rhetoric, but the way he’s doing it sounds quite egotistical. Well, I’m still glad we came here. This is the kind of look into a public servant’s mind you can’t get any other way than listening to how he addresses his supporters.


	6. Darkrai (August 27)

<Nova>

It’s June 11, 2013. Two players, Lilyana Kuznetsov and Nova Mosely, are sitting under a large screened area which contains a dirty glass table and chairs. In the corner sits a dilapidated hot tub. At the table, we’re locked in combat playing _Pokémon Black 2 and White 2,_ the most recently released main series games in the Pokémon franchise. However, things unfortunately aren’t going so well for me.

“Are you shitting your pants yet?” Lily asks me.

“No!” I exclaim. “That’s gross!”

Lily is my best friend, who lives in the same neighborhood as me. She’s rather overweight and likes to keep her hair on the short side, though the hair she does have is just long enough to be kept in a ponytail. I come over here to play video games with her all the time; and today, we’re battling each other in Pokémon.

Well, it’s more like we _were_. The match just came to an end, as my final Pokémon, Scrafty, faints after a second Thunderbolt from her Darkrai.

Darkrai is an unfairly overpowered legendary Pokémon that she loves using against me. It has unique access to a move called Dark Void, which has a 4/5 chance of putting the opponent to sleep, which basically just means that your Pokémon is useless for several turns while Darkrai tears through it with its terrifying offensive stats. I thought that Scrafty would be a good counter to it due to its typing and ability, but nope.

“We’re battling again,” I tell her, incensed. “And this time, you’re not allowed to use your _goddamn piece of shit_ Darkrai.”

Lily cackles evilly. “You mean you’ve had all these years and a whole new generation, and you still haven’t found a better counter?”

“That thing is _fucking_ broken!” I say. “It’s an unfair _f_ -…”

She shushes me before I can finish my thought. “Stop swearing,” she whispers. “I hear someone coming.”

A few seconds later, her grandma has come out onto the porch with us, holding a small box that's wrapped with multi-colored wrapping paper.

“Oh man,” I say. “Is that…”

“Here’s your birthday present,” she says. “Consider it a thank you for being such a good friend to Lily all these years.”

She lays the box down on the table. I begin tearing it open anxiously. I can’t believe it… It can’t be… I honestly had forgotten it was my birthday today, but I guess it is...

“No way!” I shout, as I see exactly what I hoped it would be: a new 3DS! “My mom’s gonna be p- ticked off at you guys!” My mom has been getting onto me for my video games a lot recently.

“You’ll just have to keep it our little secret,” Lily says, winking at me.

“You may want to be heading home soon,” her grandma says. “I’m sure your parents will want to spend your birthday with you.”

I'm not so sure about that. “I’m not in a big hurry,” I tell her.

“Yeah, grandma, it’s only four!” Lily says quickly. “He can stay a little bit longer. We still have business to settle, after all.”

Her grandma chuckles. “All right, just don’t be out here too late.”

After her grandma goes back into the house, Lily looks at me. “Are your parents…?”

“Yeah,” I say quickly, because I know exactly what she’s going to ask and I don’t want to hear her say it out loud.

As I take the system out of its box and turn it on, I start thinking about what games I would like on it. There are a few staples I know I need to play, and the next Pokémon game is coming out by the end of the year…

“Oh yeah, before I forget,” Lily says, “You can have this now.”

She gives me another wrapped box, this one smaller and square shaped. I have a feeling that there’s a game in there, and sure enough, it’s Mario Kart 7!

“You guys are so cool,” I say to her, feeling even more appreciation for her and her family. This reminds me of something, though... “Shit. I forgot to tell your grandparents thank you!”

Lily laughs at me. “Don’t sweat it.”

I can’t help but to “sweat it”, though. I know from experience that people get angry at you if you don’t thank them when they give you presents.

While I’m entering in my name and the date and everything, I can’t help but to start thinking about what I was trying not to earlier.

“Man, I hope that I don’t have to move,” I say. “You know I’m not too good at making new friends.”

Lily doesn’t have a response for this.

* * *

To take my mind off of the depressing shit, I plot a new counter for Darkrai while I ride my bike home later. However, when I arrive at the back door, I can hear the voices yelling from inside… I take a deep breath and open the door.

“...won’t even please your own wife!” My mom’s voice shouts as I enter. “What kind of man are you?”

I quickly shuffle through the kitchen, trying not to be seen. To drown out their voices, I try and focus harder on my previous train of thought…

“One who wants some peace and quiet that YOU won’t let me have!” My dad shouts back.

Whew, I managed to get by without them noticing me. Anyways, maybe a Breloom with Technician could work. Boosted Mach Punch could lay it out before it has a chance to…

“Well, newsflash, Jace, _the rest of us in society_ don’t get any peace and quiet! We won’t until we’re _dead_ . _”_

It’s really hard to concentrate when there are people yelling nearby… Let’s see, maybe I’ll try to distract myself by playing a different game.

“Aren’t you ever gonna chill for just _two seconds!_ You ain’t human!”

Hmm… how about Star Fox Assault? I still need to finish that.

“I _ain’t_ soft like you, I work for a god damn living and I’m tired of getting questions about why I still put up with you! It’s no wonder you don’t even know how to raise a child right!”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know that boy isn’t right, _Jace!_ ”

Damn it, I wish they would shut up. I don’t see Kat anywhere, I bet she’s hiding in her room again.

“You heard what that doctor said! It’s no one’s fault!”

“I don’t give a damn about any doctor! You’re too weak to knock any sense into him, that’s what the problem is!”

Let’s see here… what was I doing in the game last time? Oh yeah, hunting for Pigma…

There is a loud clattering of dishes from the kitchen, followed by footsteps. “I’m not gonna be _knocking_ anything… you’re crazy, woman!”

“DON’T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME!”

Suddenly, a huge crash sounds from the kitchen as a plate was hurled against the wall.

“JESUS CHRIST!” the man yells.

That’s the second time that’s happened this month. Can’t they just let me play my games in peace?

* * *

“Nova! There’s someone knocking at the door!” My dad’s voice says from behind me.

“Huh? What?” I ask, confused.

“It’s your friend, right?” he questions. “Shouldn’t you get it?”

“Oh. I guess so,” I admit, standing him. I see him leaning against the entrance to the kitchen, chuckling at me. 

“What were you doing, boy?” he asks me.

“I was just thinking about stuff!” I defend myself. He just keeps chuckling and walks into the kitchen. I don’t think it’s that funny.

About a year after that day, my parents got divorced. My Dad initially got custody of Kat and I, and he moved us to Enchantment City, away from our old home in New Braunfels. Before I moved, Lily told me that she actually had a cousin who lived in the same town named Anja Beulen. And then, she just so happens to be in the same section as me in band. I guess it is a small world or whatever. Figuring that lightning ain’t gonna strike twice, I invited her over to my house after band today for some Super Smash Bros.

I pause the game and run up to the door. I check the peephole, and just as I thought, it’s Anja. I open the door.

“Hey there Nov,” she says. “Hmm. Nov… your name isn't shortened quite as easily as the others.”

“Is it that girl of yours?” My dad calls out from the kitchen.

“Yeah!” I call back, and I really wish he hadn’t said that because as we walk back into the living room, Kat appears at the door to her bedroom.

“Ooh, Nova’s got a girlfriend now,” she says.

“Shut up,” I tell her. “Get back to your room.”

“I’m surprised at you, Nova. I thought you were gay!”

“You don’t know what I am,” I tell her. She runs away giggling, and I make to slap her but miss and hit the wall on purpose.

“You never told me that you have a little sister!” Anja says to me.

“Yeah, well, I try to forget she exists,” I say, as I make my way back to the TV. “Come on, it’s time to Smash.”

I hear her giggling behind me too, though I can’t figure out why.

* * *

Smash Bros. is going great. I’m winning probably three quarters of the matches we’re in. She’s trying to counter my Dedede with fast characters like Sonic and Sheik. Along the way, though, we discuss what’s really important in life: which characters will show up in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. (Personally, I’m pulling for Mewtwo to return.)

After my fourth consecutive win, Anja finishes off her third Dr. Pepper with a loud slurp. “Man, what is your secret, Nova?” she asks me.

I shrug. “I don’t have one. Just get good.”

“Awh, come on. I bet you practice all the time,” she says. “I guess I need to start stepping up my game. By the end of the fall, I’ll be beating you, and that’s a promise!”

Her words, however, make me pause for a moment. They make me feel strangely sad…

“Something on your mind?” She asks me.

“Um… can I tell you something?”

“Sure.”

“I’m not sure how much longer I’m gonna be around here,” I admit.

She frowns at me. “What do you mean? Didn’t you just move here?”

“Yeah… well, my mom is trying to get custody back of my sister and I,” I explain. “If she does, I’ll have to move back.

“Hmm,” Anja says. “How do you feel about that?”

I feel myself getting mad just thinking about it. “I hope she doesn’t win,” I say bluntly. “She’s an insane psychopath.”

“Really?” Anja says, staring at me.

“Yeah.”

“If that’s true, surely the judge won’t give you guys over to her?”

“Well… she doesn’t act like that when we’re in court,” I explain. “She’s a lawyer, you see. She knows how to get on a judge’s good side.”

“I see. So, someone who’s two-faced,” Anja says. “Who’s overseeing your trial?”

“Um… some old dude named ‘Pavia.’”

Anja shakes her head. “My dad says that man is crooked,” she says. “Rich people always seem to come out on top whenever he’s overseeing a case… so he’s most likely taking bribes.”

This information gives me a jolt. Dad doesn’t have a ton of money, he’s barely scraping for us by working at his dead-end job. Mom, on the other hand, is a lawyer for the big oil company Vermillion Oil, and makes a pretty substantial income…

“Do you think that… my mom might be bribing him?” I ask her.

She shrugs, a grim look on her face. “I don’t know. Maybe. If you don’t mind me asking, what’d your mom do to make you not want to live with her?”

“She’s horrible,” I explain. “Always screaming at my dad, and at my sister and I. She throws stuff around when she doesn’t get her way. She always calls me a ‘freak’ and tries to stop me from playing video games.”

“So you’d prefer to live with your dad?” she says. “Your situation does seem… rather unusual.”

“It’s hell, is what it is,” I go on. “I really don’t want to have to go back to living with her… Although, I guess it would be nice to see Lily again.”

Anja thinks about this for a moment, looking pensive.

“I’m turning sixteen this December, and when I do, I’ll be getting my real driver’s license,” she explains to me. “Maybe… if this court thing works out… I can take us both up there to visit her?”

I’m kinda taken aback by that. “Really? You’d be willing to drive all that way?” I ask.

“It’s not that far,” she says. “We’d just have to hop on I-35, survive whatever the traffic is like in Austin, and then exit just past San Marcos. Shouldn’t take longer than an hour. Maybe an hour and a half if Austin is bad.”

“Wow, thanks,” I tell her, smiling despite myself. The idea of all three of us being able to meet does sound pretty fun… but then, I realize why it probably won’t happen… and my heart sinks back to its regular place.

“If that Pavia guy is really accepting bribes from my mom,” I say, “We have no chance of winning. I’m probably gonna have to move back there, whether I like it or not.”

Anja’s face suddenly flashes with… something. Anger, I think. “It’s not fair,” she says. “There has to be some way to fight back… even though we’re kids…”

“If you find out something, I’d love to hear about it.” I tell her. I pick up my own Dr. Pepper and start drinking it for something to do.

“When I’m an adult,” she says, “I’m not going to let shit like this happen anymore. People like that Justice Pavia don’t deserve power. I’m tired of politicians with no principles who can be bought by the wealthy running this country. You know what? I think Citizens United was the worst Supreme Court decision since Plessy v. Ferguson!”

“Uh… Citizens _what_?” I ask.

“Oh, uh, don’t worry about it,” she says. “Sorry, I got a little worked up there…”

I shrug “Come on, then. Let’s play another round,” I say, picking my controller back up.

* * *

<Anja>

By the time I’m driving home from Nova’s, it’s already dark out. That meetup was definitely successful. We had a really good time together. Even though I lost probably nine out of ten matches, I found him fun to hang out with. That said, his story about the custody battle weighs heavily on my mind. Will we be able to find some solution to let him stay with his dad? Or will this story turn into a tragedy, a reminder that we are stuck on this cruel bitch of an earth with almost no agency? I’m Anja Beulen, and we’ll be finding out together on… _Deep In The Heart_. *Theme music plays*

…Okay, I probably need to quit with the internal monologue and focus on the road.

I get home to find Dad sitting on the couch and reading as usual. My father honestly kind of looks like a “stereotypical therapist”. He has short, brown hair, is somewhat on the corpulent side, and has a pair of circular reading glasses.

“Did you have fun with your friend?” He asks, as I walk into the living room.

“I sure did!” I assure him. “But man, I didn’t realize how bad I was a Smash Bros… I need to train.”

“Well, just make sure that you do your schoolwork first,” he tells me.

“Of course, of course. Speaking of which… I should probably go start on that.”

I head back into my room. It doesn’t have a lot of furniture, just a bed and a desk with a computer on it, as well as a bunch of office supplies and a stack of cases for 3DS and DS games. There’s also a bookshelf against the back wall and books and clothes strewn all over the floor. I’ve never been much of a stickler for cleanliness.

I lean back onto my bed and lay on my back for a while. I know I like, just said that I was going to start on my homework, but… I don’t really feel like it.

The longer I sit, the more I find that what Nova told me about the custody trial with his mom is weighing heavily on me, for whatever reason. Man, I just wish there was something I could do… Thinking about how helpless I am to change things right now is depressing as hell…

Thankfully, a convenient distraction comes just a few minutes later, as I feel my phone ringing. I pick it up to see that it’s my Aunt Kierstyn!

Aunt Kierstyn is my mom’s sister, so in a way she’s the only piece of her I have left. Like Mom, she found herself in government work, albeit of a lower profile. She actually lives here in town, but is frequently gone for long periods of time for her job.

I visit her place occasionally, and frequently keep in touch via phone. I often vent to her about school worries, and in return, she tells me about weird stuff that she’s learned in her line of work. She’s a huge fan of conspiracy theories- I sometimes get the feeling that she only took a government job to dig up dirt.

That said, somehow after Mom passed away, she and Dad became estranged, so he doesn’t really like me to visit her too often. He thinks that it’s really weird that she has a daughter (Lily), but she doesn’t even live in the same town as her. Lily and I’s grandparents have to take care of her most of the time. And yeah, I’ll admit that is pretty weird. When I ask her about it, she says that she visits Lily whenever she can, but is really busy with her job.

Anyways, I’m glad that she’s calling me. There was something I wanted to ask her about anyway…

“Hello there, Anja!” She greets me after I pick up. “How’s your first week of school been?”

“Oh, pretty good,” I say. “Classes seem okay so far.”

“That’s good to hear. Tell me about what’s been going on.”

And tell her I do. I talk about marching band, and how we’re preparing for our first football game next Friday, immediately followed by our first contest the next day. I also talk about the friends I’ve made so far. I tell her about Ashley, who I enjoy talking to despite the fact that she’s not very easy to get along with, and her shy best friend Zoe. Finally, I talk about Nova, and how bad I feel for him over what’s been happening with his parents.

“Yes, it’s really tough to have to watch people you care about get swept away by forces out of any of our control,” she comments solemnly. “Still, it’s good to hear that you’re making friends. I know that the past couple of years have been rough on you.”

“Yeah, they sure have been,” I say. “But I have a feeling that things are going to be better- even if it means I have to degrade myself by being friends with a bunch of freshmen.”

She laughs at that. “Well, don’t get too high and mighty. You were a freshman just last year, after all.”

“Yeah, I know,” I say. “Actually… speaking of friends, there’s something weird that happened recently that I wanted to ask you about.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“I saw something weird on one of my friend’s phones the other day. She had an app that resembled a strange eye over a red background. I swear that I’ve seen that same symbol before… I think it was when I was visiting you once.”

“You saw that on her phone?” She questions, suddenly sounding very alarmed. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I know what I saw. What do you think it is?” I ask her.

“It’s… something which you definitely don’t want to mess around with, Anja,” she says seriously. “If I were you, I’d try to forget about that as quickly as I could.”

I frown to myself, disappointed that she isn’t more forthcoming with information. Still, I can tell by her tone that she isn’t going to relent, so I drop the subject.

The rest of the conversation goes normally, and she leaves me to finally start my homework after making plans for us to see each other on Labor Day.

Still… I haven’t forgotten about that weird app. Call it reverse psychology, but the way she reacted to me bringing it up only makes me way more curious to find out what it is…


	7. Tired Of Waiting (August 28 Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick tw for this chapter. While nothing bad actually happens, it does kind of seem like it’s about to at one point.

<Anja>

The next morning, Dad drops me off at school nice and early. I usually like to get to school earlier rather than later so I can spend the last thirty minutes before class starts actually waking myself up. I don’t really have anyone to hang out with in the morning, but there is a nice little room in the band hall nobody goes to which I like to use. Still, it gets kind of lonely… Why does everyone at this school have to be so bigoted? Ah well. No use crying over spilled milk.

I’m about to enter the band hall, when I happen to see that Ashley is being dropped off. This gives me an idea… I decide to wait by the door for her. I don’t know what she usually does in the morning, but it’s worth seeing if she might want to join me. Knowing her, though, she probably spends all morning practicing. Or doing homework.

Except… she doesn’t actually walk towards the band hall. She’s acting kind of strangely. She’s carefully looking around the school, as if searching for something. Then, she suddenly starts walking in the opposite direction, towards the athletic complexes.

Wait a second… I don’t think that Ashley is in any sports. What is she doing? I’m kind of curious now. I don’t have anything better to do, so I decide to go say hi and ask her.

* * *

<Ashley>

After thinking it over, I’ve decided to check and see if there is a palace at the school. I know that Lucy said to find someone evil and _then_ find the palace, but… Well, knowing whether or not there’s one at the school would help narrow it down. Or wait, would it? It’s not exactly clear to me where someone’s palace would actually appear. Would it appear where they work, or just like at their house? Well, whatever the case is, it’s easy enough to check while I’m here. I’ll just dip in real quick and check it out, and then go spend the rest of the morning practicing as usual.

I happen to know of a little spot where I can quickly go in and out without being seen. Next to the gym, there’s an indention in the school’s wall where a generator is, and there aren’t any doors or windows nearby. If I stand in between the generator and the wall, I’ll be completely concealed unless someone just so happens to walk back there, which is extremely unlikely.

I carefully step around the generator as it whirs away. I don’t know if it’s dangerous to touch or not, but I avoid doing so just in case. I get out my phone to get it over with.

However, in the few seconds while my finger is touching the app, I hear a voice speaking to me: “Hey Ashley! What’re you…” Unfortunately, it’s too late to undo it. God damn it.

* * *

When the world comes back into focus, I’m surprised to see that I am in the middle of what appears to be a dense jungle. That’s… quite the change from where I ended up last time.

According to Lucy, a palace can take any number of forms. Could something like this jungle be a palace? It is completely unique compared to the rest of the Metaverse, so maybe.

I turn around to survey my surroundings, and then I see…

“Anja!” I shout in surprise. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

She’s breathing very deeply a few feet away from me, seemingly completely overwhelmed by the sudden change in surroundings. “Oh my god… I think… I’m having a meltdown… What the FUCK is happening here?”

“Was that you who was talking to me before I entered the Metaverse?” I ask her.

She just gives me an incredulous look. “Before you entered WHAT?” She asks.

Somehow, she must have been dragged in here with me as I entered. Maybe if I take her back quickly enough, I can try and play it off like she just had a brief hallucination or something…

“Wait! This has something to do with that app on your phone!” Anja says, pointing at me. “I knew you were up to some freaky stuff.”

“You couldn’t possibly have known that,” I retort.

“I don’t like this place. I have a serious case of the creeps right now,” she whines. “Also, why are you dressed up like some sort of knight?”

I sigh. Okay, it’s probably too late to try and pass this off as her imagination.

“What I want to know is why the hell you happened to be standing around while I was coming in here,” I tell her. “Were you stalking me?”

“I wasn’t _stalking_ you!” She replies indignantly. “I was just coming over to say hi.”

“And you followed me all the way around the school to do that?”

“Well… I was bored!” She defends herself, blushing.

I sigh again and return to surveying our surroundings. This place vaguely reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of the Amazon rainforest. The foliage is so thick that I can’t see five feet in front of me. Lucy said that a palace would have puzzles and enemies… but I don’t see anything like that. I might find something if I wander around… but it’s also probably best to not get tangled up in all of that right now. For the time being, I should focus on dealing with Anja.

“This place isn’t right,” she says, going back to looking around at the trees. “Don’t you just feel like… someone is watching you?”

I draw my sword. I find that I don’t need to actively draw the sword from a sheath; it simply appears in my hand the moment I think about using it. Odd, but convenient. Anyways, with the sword in hand, I begin circling around the area we’re in. No sign of anything yet…

“You never really answered me before when I asked where we are,” she asks me from behind, sounding calmer now that she’s recovered from the initial shock.

“It’s called the Metaverse,” I explain. “And I think we may be in the middle of a particularly dangerous part of it, so be on your toes.”

“How the hell did you learn about this?” she asks me.

“It’s… kind of a long story,” I say. “I found this old journal in my closet… and when I wrote in it, it started writing to me back.”

“A talking book?” She gasps suddenly. “You mean like Tom Riddle’s diary?”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought of too,” I admit.

Now she’s looking at me with a hint of her usual smugness back. “Huh. I never took you for a Harry Potter fan.”

I shrug. She returns to nervously glancing around at the trees surrounding us.

“And this person in the book told you how to get here?”

“Sort of. She kind of forced me to come in here, honestly.”

“Well, that’s rather rude.”

“It’s _very_ rude. Still, afterwards, I was able to awaken my Persona. That’s why I have the armor.”

She gives me a weirded-out look. “Your _Persona_ , huh?”

“Yeah. It gives me a weapon and the ability to do magic and shit.”

“Magic?” She chuckles a little bit. “Okay, I’m not gonna lie. This does sound pretty occult to me, Ashley.”

“It’s not!” I snarl at her. Though come to think of it, I really don’t know a lot about the origins of this place. Still, if we believe the story about Ted being sent by an angel, it can’t be anything entirely wicked.

“Well then, what’s the deal with this jungle?” She asks me.

“I think it’s what’s called a ‘palace’,” I explain to her. “It means that there’s someone at our school with distorted desires.”

“Distorted desires?” She asks, looking alarmed. “How are they distorted?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “There’s not much we can do here without finding out who it belongs to.”

“And if you did find out who it belongs to, what would you do?”

“Change their heart.”

“Hmm… so basically, this place lets you make bad people good? Or at least less bad?”

“Yeah, basically.” I’m starting to get tired of the 20 questions, so I look around at the foliage one more time to have something to do. Lucy said that a palace’s design would reflect how its owner’s desires are distorted. What kind of desires would cause a jungle to appear? The place does have a _wild_ feel to it. Maybe it means that the palace owner is acting on baser impulses, without regard for the ethics of civilized society?

“Uh… Ashley? I see something moving!” Anja whimpers.

“Right… we should get out of here. We’ve been loitering too much,” I say.

And then, I suddenly feel something grabbing me by the ankle. Before I can respond, I feel it tug on me, causing me to fall on my face. Whatever it is must’ve gotten Anja too, as I hear her screaming from in front of me.

I feel myself being dragged into the trees, so I quickly scramble to an upright position. Some type of green vine is lassoed around my ankle. I grab my sword and use it to slice through the vine, and then kick myself free.

I quickly get to my feet and look around. Anja is gone now, but I can see a path through the trees of ruffled grass and broken branches, which means that she must’ve been dragged away by a vine. Without wasting any time, I hurry in the direction she was taken.

* * *

<Anja>

And so there I was, being dragged through the jungle by a force I could not see, terrified for my life, my head bumping into trees and my face being scratched by branches and leaves.

Eventually, it drags me into a clearing, far away from where I was just talking to Ashley. I see my assailant; a bunch of disembodied vines, which are now shooting out of the surrounding jungle from every direction and tying up my arms and legs, leaving me feeling extremely vulnerable and viscerally uncomfortable. It’s then that I hear a hissing voice from every direction at once, which bizarrely sounds slightly familiar:

“Excellent, now I’ve got you alone. Your armored friend isn’t going to save you. I’ve dragged you where nobody can see or interrupt…”

“Let me go, whatever you are!” I shout. “I do not like this one bit!”

“And miss out on this opportunity? I’ve been waiting for someone small and defenseless like you to wander onto my playground for quite a while. Now just be a good girl and stay put until I can be there in the flesh. Not like you have a choice…”

Nope. Noooope. I’m not letting this shit happen.

...Is what I would love to say right now, but I have no idea how the hell to get out of this. I utterly lose control and start screaming, every ounce of my fear pouring from my mouth in a shrill, terrible cry for Ashley or literally anyone to come help me before this creep arrives. 

“Nobody’s going to hear you,” the hissing voice says. “But go ahead and continue screaming, it really helps set the mood…”

The vine starts pulling my legs apart so that they’re more spread out. Something kind of seems to snap within me at that moment… unfortunately, not in any kind of helpful way. I find that my voice goes hoarse, and my limbs just sort of freeze up. Damn it, no! Not the paralysis response! This is fucking hopeless…

However, amid my despair, I feel a strange, other feeling… And suddenly I remember something. Didn’t Ashley say something about having a _Persona_? She never really explained it, but… I need help. I literally don’t care who or what gives it. Anything that’s in there, or out there, or whatever, please…

Amazingly, I hear a voice within my head that’s not my own. It sounds like… an effeminate man.

 _Why hello there Anja,_ he says. _I’ve been waiting for you to call on me._

 _Uhh, hi,_ I think back (this is weird.) _Who exactly are you…?_

_I’m the part of you that you keep hidden away. I am your inner power, your spirit of rebellion. You called for me; does this mean that you’re finally ready to accept me?_

I gain a sudden clarity of mind. This situation is seriously wrong. There’s no way in hell I’m gonna let this stand. 

_Yes, I accept,_ I think decisively.

 _Good_ , says the male voice. _Yes, this is excellent. I feel your resolve. Come on now…_ And it's at this moment that I feel something change.

* * *

Now, I’m in an area surrounded by greenery- but it’s different from the jungle. This place feels much more peaceful. I find myself on my knees in front of a small pool of water. I look at my reflection in the water for a while, seeing my own brown eyes stare back at me.

Then, I hear the same voice as before, only this time it’s across from me. It says, “So… you believe that it is your time… to choose what is right, rather than what is easy…”

I look up from the pool, seeing who I’ve been speaking with for the first time… and this causes my cheeks to immediately flush bright red.

Across from me is a man… an absolutely gorgeous man, with flowing blonde hair, naked except for a sort of curtain blocking his midriff, and, most interestingly, a bed of daffodils growing out of the top of his head. He’s casually leaning against a tree. I’m temporarily at a loss for words, and just stare for a while, going against my usual etiquette standards. He doesn’t seem to mind, however.

“Teehee… Answer a question for me, Anja. What are you doing?”

“Uh… sitting by a pool.”

“No, with your life. What is the point of keeping yourself isolated like this? Why is it that you have all these ideals which you hold strongly, and all these changes you want to make, yet you never pursue them?”

“Well, there’s not exactly much I _can_ do right now, is there?”

“Sure there is. You could be doing research. You could be engaging with others and strengthening your views with new viewpoints. Instead, you are like this pool; a motionless body of water, with nothing flowing in or out. And if left sitting long enough, pools will become stagnant and infested with algae.”

I look at my reflection in the pool again and frown. “That’s mean,” I say defensively. 

“It’s true, though. Remember, I am your inner self; I am only saying things that you already know to be true. And besides all of that, the existence of this world opens up even more opportunities for you.”

I look up excitedly. “You think so?”

“Well, _you_ think so, at least,” he says cheekily. 

“Actually… that makes me wonder something. If you’re my inner self, why are you a _guy_?”

“I only take the form of your cognition of power.”

I frown again. “Are you saying that I’m like, secretly a misogynist?”

“No... You’re thinking about this way too hard, Anja… It just means that I represent something that you value or want to change about yourself.”

I laugh, feeling stupid. “Right, sorry. I do tend to think too hard about stuff, I guess…”

I stand back up. “Alright. Enough questions, I’m ready to do this.”

He grins at me. “Very good. We will form a pact. If you are ready to accept the responsibility that has been thrust upon you, I will lend you my power.”

“Hook me the fuck up, I’m in!”

* * *

Though I am in the grasp of the vines, my body begins trembling, moving so forcefully that I can’t be held still. As if following instructions I had agreed on long ago, I reach up to my face, where a white mask has formed, and I rip it straight off. For a moment, the pain is so intense that I can’t help but to scream… But then, I am engulfed in blue flames, which burn away all of the vines; I can feel the relief of my limbs being set free. When the fire is gone, I am wearing a curious outfit; a red dress, covered on the back by a thick fur coat, and a tight necklace of small pearls around my neck. In my hands is some kind of gun with a long muzzle and a huge handle right past the trigger.


	8. Vows (August 28 Part 2)

<Anja>

I see the vines moving back towards me to ensnare me again, but I act instinctively and open fire in every direction at once; I am pleased to find out that my weapon fires automatically, and so I let loose a spray of bullets until the vines retreat back into the undergrowth.

“Yeah! That serves you right, motherfucker!” I shout triumphantly, feeling thrilled by my newfound power.

“Ah, how lovely. It’s more fun when you try to fight back,” the hissing voice says. “Let’s see how you handle this…”

Then, I see two enormous snakes, with patterns of alternating yellow and light blue, approaching me from the tree line, hissing at me threateningly. Shit… I wasn’t prepared for this.

I waste no time in opening fire on my serpentine opponents. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work quite as well as it did with the vines, since the snakes seem to at least be smart enough to dodge a majority of the bullets.

What this does accomplish is provoking them further, and one of them charges straight for me. I’m momentarily at a loss for what to do; my weapon is a ranged one!

But something else changed when I got my weapon… I feel some sort of power within me that I didn’t have before.

Without really thinking about it, I raise my hand in front of me and snap my fingers. I am pleased, though honestly not entirely surprised, to see a huge flash of light split the air in front of me, leaving the snake clearly disoriented. I take advantage of this moment of weakness to rush towards it and smack it with my gun.

However, it doesn’t take the snake long to recover, and it begins wrapping itself around me…

Then, I’m flooded with relief to see Ashley burst through the trees!

“Ashley! I need help!” I shout at her.

She catches my eye, and then reaches towards me and casts some sort of spell that significantly weakens the hold of the snake that’s constricting me, allowing me to wrestle free. However, helping me came at a cost; the second one lurches towards her and sinks its teeth right into her shoulder…

I finish off the snake in front of me by grabbing its head and letting loose with automatic fire right into its mouth: the bullets form several clear holes all around its head and neck, which ooze blood that looks like black tar… then, the snake goes still, and dissipates into a sort of shadowy substance. Then, it fades into the air, as if it had never existed to begin with.

I immediately take off for where Ashley was. Ashley retaliates against the second snake with a wild strike that cuts it clean in two, causing it to dissipate as well. The force of the swing, however, caused her to fall over backwards onto the ground.

“Are you okay?” I ask her stupidly, as I huddle over her. She must be in a ton of pain; the snake’s bite somehow melted through the armor and left two huge gashes on her shoulder. However, the only sign of pain that she’s showing is a grimace that’s barely more expressive than the look she gives me when I make a bad joke.

“What the hell… are those fangs made of?” she says hoarsely. “Cut through my armor like… tissue paper.”

Once again, without really thinking about it, I lift my hand to her shoulder, which begins glowing brightly. When I pull it away, the wound is inexplicably healed. Ashley gives me a strange look, like she’s just now noticed that I exist.

“Come on, let’s get out of here before anything else shows up,” I urge her. She nods in agreement, and then transports us out with her phone.

* * *

<Ashley>

I am fully expecting, based on my previous experience, to appear in some random part of the school; but thankfully we turn up back by the generator where we entered.

Anja looks as pale as a ghost, and as soon as we get our bearings back, she sits down on the ground, breathing deeply.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“I don’t know…” she says. “That was… pretty fucked up.”

“Well, let’s talk about it after school today when we can get some privacy,” I tell her. “Class is probably starting before too long now. You can come over to my place after band.”

She just nods silently, her eyes still wide with fear.

* * *

<Anja>

It turns out, Ashley actually doesn’t live too far away from me. She’s close enough to where I can ride my bike to her place after school. Who knew?

Ashley’s house is a reasonably modest one-story, not any bigger than mine. There’s a huge oak tree in the front, must be 50 feet tall. There’s also a campaign sign for the US Senator from Texas who’s up for re-election this year. Well, she did say her parents were Republicans. Oh well, at least they’re not shilling the  _ other _ Senator from here.

Anyways, without further ado, I knock on the front door, and after about thirty seconds, a woman whom I can only assume is Ashley’s mom answers the door. She looks so similar to Ashley, it’s almost comical. They both have the long red hair, green eyes, and slender build while still having a chest… ugh, I’m so jealous. Anyways, apart from resembling Ashley, I can’t shake the feeling that I know her from somewhere else too…

“Hello, you must be Anja,” she says to me. She looks like she hasn’t been getting a lot of sleep recently. “Come on in.”

I step into the front hall. “Thank you very much, Ms… Davis? Is that it?”

She chuckles at me. “Well, technically I’m still Ms. Cooper. I didn’t change my last name when we got married. Still, Zoe’s been calling me Ms. Davis for years anyway. I just don’t have the heart to correct her, she’s so sweet.”

I look around the house to see if Ashley is around, but she doesn’t seem to be. What’s she up to?

“You may be the first kid other than Zoe to step into this house since we moved here,” Ashley’s mom continues, looking at me carefully as though scanning me. “Those two have quite a special friendship, do they?”

“Oh, um… yeah, I guess so,” I say.

Psst… I obviously won’t say anything else to her mom, but I kind of have a theory that Ashley and Zoe are secretly in love with each other. I mean, Ashley gives me serious lesbian vibes. That’s honestly part of the reason I started talking to her. Not even to hit on her, I was just hoping to make friends with someone who won’t judge me for being bi.

“Anyways, Ashley should be around here somewhere,” her mom explains. “Although I don’t know what she’s doing... She’s usually already waiting at the door whenever Zoe gets here.” I make a mental note of this, as it corroborates my theory.

Ashley’s mom takes off down a hallway to the right of the front door, and I follow behind her.

We pass a couple of other doors and arrive at the one at the opposite end of the hall, on which she knocks sharply. “Hey Ash, your friend is here,” she calls. Hmm, her mom calls her that too. Interesting.

There is no response. After a few seconds, Ashley’s mom rolls her eyes and just enters the room anyway.

Ashley is sitting on her bed, wearing a large pair of headphones. It seems as if she heard her mom enter the room, as she is now stopping an old-fashioned record player that’s sitting on the bed next to her.

“Make sure you put that back before your father gets home,” her mom comments. “You know how particular he is about his stuff.” And with that, she is gone, leaving just Ashley and I.

Ashley doesn’t say anything at first. She spends a little while moving the record player onto her desk.

“Uh… wow, your room’s a lot more organized than mine is,” I say, feeling a bit awkward. “Um… Whatcha listening to?”

“Coltrane,” she says simply. She hands me the vinyl sleeve for the record, which was sitting on her nightstand. The sleeve has “A Love Supreme/John Coltrane” written at the top in blocky white letters. Below that is a black and white photo showing a side view of a black man, who is looking into the distance pensively.

“Oh, cool,” I say.

She takes the sleeve from me and sets it on top of the record player. Then, without giving any sort of warning, she fiddles with her phone, and we’re re-entering the… place, whatever it’s called.

* * *

“So… that’s a lot to take in,” I say, one massive exposition dump later.

She nods. “It is indeed. This was sprung on me only a few days ago, so I’m still trying to understand it all myself.”

I sit myself down on Ashley’s bed, head in my hands. Well, I  _ was _ just thinking the other day that I wish there was something I could do to help Nova. Maybe…

“What do you know about Justice Pavia?” I ask Ashley.

“I know that he is the local Justice of the Peace, and that he’s running for re-election this year,” she responds. “That’s about it.”

“Hmm. Well, if we can target anyone we want using this Metaverse crap, I think he’s a good person to consider for that.

Ashley looks at me sternly. “Look, Anja. I told you what Lucy said; this is only for the most evil people imaginable. This better not be about some petty political disagreement that you have.”

“It’s not!” I insist. “It has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with the fact that this man is about to force Nova and his little sister to live with his abusive mother!”

“If his mother is really that bad, shouldn’t we be going after her?” she questions me. “What does the Justice have to do with this?”

“Well, he’s the one presiding over the trial,” I explain. “I guess maybe we could go after Nova’s mom. But like, I dunno. Getting a bad person to stop doing bad things is one thing. But could something like this make a mother start loving and caring for her own children?”

“Perhaps not. At any rate, before we do anything, we’re going to need to talk to Nova about this,” Ashley suggests.

“Well, yeah, obviously.”

“Also, I think we should try and learn a little bit more about this Pavia character. Just mismanaging one civil trial doesn’t make someone a despicable villain. We need to find out if this fits into a broader pattern of behavior.”

“I bet you that it does! My dad says that man is crooked.”

“Yes, but some people in this town believe that the president is Osama Bin Laden after faking his own death and getting plastic surgery, so let’s find something slightly more substantial than word of mouth.”

“Alright... fair enough,” I agree.

Seemingly satisfied with this, Ashley takes her phone out and returns us to the regular world.

* * *

As soon as we’re back, she begins striding past me towards her door.

“Hey, wait a sec!” I call after her. “What are we doing?”

“While you’re here, there’s someone I want to introduce you to,” she says, opening the door.

And so I hurriedly follow her back down the hallway, past the dining room table, and into the kitchen, where she opens the freezer door. However, all she does is just look inside of it and sigh heavily.

“What, you want to introduce me to someone who lives in your freezer?” I ask.

“I was going to offer you a popsicle, but… looks like my mom finished those off already.” She closes the freezer door.

“How do you know it wasn’t your dad?”

“Because my dad actually has self-control,” she says. “Also, he’s not home right now.”

“Where is your mom, anyway?” I ask, looking around the house and seeing the living room empty.

“Probably taking a nap. She played a gig late last night, and it totally destroyed her sleep schedule.”

“Surely she can’t be tired if she just ate sugar?”

“My mom actually does get tired when she eats sugar… just one of her many quirks.”

“Do you think she has some sort of medical condition?”

She shoots me a scathing look. “Do you have a medical condition which makes you ask 10,000 questions per second?”

“I’m a curious person!” I reply indignantly.

She rolls her eyes at me, and then makes for the front door.

Seriously though, I didn’t think it was that offensive of a question. She’s being totally ridiculous. You guys agree with me, right?

* * *

Ashley marches me down to the end of her street, where across the road perpendicular to hers, there is a church. The area is surrounded mostly by trees and is decently far away from any houses. The thin driveway eventually hits a fork, where a large, glorious stone sign says  _ First Methodist Church _ . The sign is surrounded by a bed of flowers. The left fork leads to a currently empty parking lot, and the right fork, which is the one that Ashley takes, leads to the church itself, which appears old and humble.

Ashley walks past the building and to a few shoddy wooden picnic tables that are down the hill. Everything behind the tables is forest.

“Wait here,” she tells me. So, I sit down at the table. Ashley takes off into the forest. However, it is not long before she returns, holding an armadillo out in front of her, which she sets down on the table.

“Ooh, you have a talking armadillo friend?” I ask. “Hi little fella!”

“Howdy ma’am,” the armadillo says, in a gruff, deep voice with a southern accent. “I must ask that you not patronize me.”

But I can’t help but burst into laughter right there. I’m sorry, this is just the silliest thing I’ve ever seen. The blatant Texas-ness of this is just beautiful.

“Just a warning, Anja,” Ashley explains, “He was previously a human, which means that he has human intelligence. So treat Ted with some respect. He’s the one who saved me from the coyotes, and he’s the one who’ll be teaching us to use our Personas.”

“Right. My apologies, Armadillo-sensei.”

Ashley glares at me for this, but honestly, it’s worth it.

“Anyways… based on our experiences today, it sounds like we probably don’t want to enter here at the school from here on out,” Ashley states. “Which is a major inconvenience, given that’s the only place where we regularly gather.”

“Hold on, what happened when y’all were at the school?” Ted asks sharply.

“Yeah, it didn’t look like this at all, it was like the middle of a jungle,” I explain. “And then I got grabbed by a bunch of vines, and was probably on the verge of being tentacle raped when my Persona came to my rescue.”

Ashley shakes her head at me. “Are you serious?”

“I’m being dead serious!” I assert. “I’m not even joking! That whole thing was creepy as fuck!”

“Hmm… that is disturbing,” Ted comments. “Very disturbing indeed…”

“So, what’s the plan then?” I ask. “Make this place the base of our operations?”

“I think that would be easiest,” Ashley agrees. “Otherwise, I’d have to smuggle this one-” she gestures at Ted- “in my backpack to wherever we do meet.”

“That sounds kind of fun, though,” I comment. “It’d be like having a pet come with you everywhere you go. You could talk to him when you feel lonely during school… use him to help you study… he could make you go to bed on time every night…”

“I don’t need help going to bed on time,” Ashley says bluntly.

And that was pretty much what has to be the weirdest day of my entire life. I’ve done some pretty strange stuff in my time, but this has to be, like, number two or three on that list. Well anyways, tomorrow we’ll try and see what Nova knows about that one guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a time and a place to die, but this ain't it.


	9. Responsibility (August 29)

<Ashley>

The next morning, Anja leads me to a practice room in the back corner of the band hall which is never used. This is apparently where she usually hangs out in the morning. It’s a rather large practice room that contains a bunch of assorted percussion equipment. When we walk in, Nova is already there, playing his DS.

“Morning Nova,” Anja greets as we both take seats next to him on the floor.

“The three of us need to discuss something very important,” I say, hoping to cut to the chase.

“Um… I need to finish my algebra homework first,” he replies.

“Don’t bullshit us,” I snipe at him. “I can clearly see that you’re currently playing Mario Kart. How stupid do you think I am?”

“Fuck off,” Nova growls.

“When’s your work due?” Anja asks.

“First period,” Nova replies.

“Oh wow. So yeah, you better get that done before we do anything else,” Anja says.

“I only have like thirty minutes, though,” Nova argues. “What’s the point of starting it now?”

“You haven’t even  _ started _ it?” I inquire. “How many questions do you have?”

“Like, twenty,” Nova answers.

“Dude, you can do that in thirty minutes. Algebra’s as easy as piss.”

“Hehe… That wasn’t my experience Ashley,” Anja cuts in, grinning.

Normally, you would take basic algebra in the ninth grade. However, students who are in advanced classes are given the opportunity to take it in eighth grade and start geometry in ninth grade instead. As a result of this, both Anja and I are on the same level in math, despite the fact that she’s a year older, and Nova is still in algebra despite being in my grade.

“Fine. I’ll do it,” Nova groans, rolling his eyes. He pulls one of our school’s antique algebra textbooks out of his backpack and opens it to the appropriate page.

“Okay, first you need to think back to the lecture over this material,” Anja instructs him. “Compare the examples you went over in class to the first few problems.”

“Implying I was actually paying attention during class?” Nova snickers.

“Oh. Well, if you weren’t paying attention, that’s okay,” Anja says reassuringly. “You just have to…”

“Hold on a second,” I interrupt. “No, it’s  _ not _ okay. Why on earth weren’t you paying attention? Do you  _ want _ to fail?”

Nova gives me a death glare. “You know what? Fuck you and your nagging,” he spits. He slams his algebra book shut and storms out of the practice room with it.

Anja sighs heavily, staring at me with disappointment. “I hope you’re not planning on becoming a teacher, Ashley,” she chides. “You’d be terrible at it.”

“Yeah, I suppose I would be,” I admit. “I have a very low tolerance for idiots.”

“He’s not an idiot, you bitch!” Anja jabs at me. “I don’t think you truly understand the things he’s dealing with in his life.”

“And you do?”

“Well, I have a feeling that you may have reminded him of his mother just then. And not in a good way.”

I think about this. If Anja’s characterization of his mother is accurate, it would explain his reaction to my scolding.

“I suppose we don’t want that,” I concede. “How about you do the tutoring next time?”

“I think that would be best,” she says dramatically.

I sigh and direct my attention towards studying for my upcoming quiz in AP Human Geography. Most AP classes are reserved for our junior and senior years, but Human Geography is offered to a special selection of students who got excellent grades in eighth grade history.

Zoe could’ve gotten into the class with me, but she voluntarily declined, not wanting the extra pressure. I can’t blame her. She’s a pretty bright kid, but she just goes to pieces any time there’s a quiz or test, and AP classes have quite a lot of those. Unfortunately, the absence of her company means that I have to deal with those idiots all by myself.

After I flip through my flash cards for a while, Nova comes back into the practice room, holding what appears to be a completed math assignment.

“Can you guys look over my answers?” Nova asks.

“Uh… okay, maybe this is a job which you’re better suited for,” Anja says, passing the paper over to me.

I sigh again and begin to look over his work. Despite the hassle it took to get him started, it seems like he nailed it in the end. I’m guessing that he used the examples in the book to make up for his lack of conscious classroom instruction.

“These… are all correct,” I tell Nova, handing the paper back to him.

He doesn’t have a response for that. He just plops back onto the floor and starts cramming his things back into his backpack.

“I suppose I was wrong about you after all,” I continue. “You’re not stupid, Nova. Your problem is that you’re lazy.”

“He’s not  _ lazy _ either!” Anja barks. “He’s afraid, Ashley.”

“Uh… what would I be afraid of?” Nova asks.

“Hmm… perhaps you’re afraid of failure?” I speculate. “Are you underestimating your abilities?”

Nova shakes his head. “Look, can we stop with this psychoanalysis shit? It’s annoying me.”

“Alright, whatever,” I say. “There’s not enough time left now, so let’s plan to discuss some more serious matters over lunch.”

Nova gives a non-committal grunt. I decide to leave the practice room and look for Zoe.

I find her near the front of the band hall, talking with three other girls. One of them is Diana. Like Zoe, she goes to my church, but I’ve never liked her all that much. She’s always come across to me like a bit of an idiot. The next is Terra, another girl from church I never quite clicked with. Always came across as overly judgmental to me. She has a habit of saying something horrible about whoever just left the room. It always makes me wonder what she says about me after I leave. The third is Yonca, who admittedly is alright. The worst thing about her is the company that she chooses. One-on-one, she’s nice enough.

When Zoe sees me, she gives me a friendly wave and stands up from her chair. “Oh, there you are, Ashley!” She says. “What have you been up to this morning? I couldn’t find you in any of the practice rooms.”

“I was in the back one with Anja and Nova,” I explain to her. “Nova needed some algebra help.”

“Which Anja?” Terra asks me. “Do you mean Anja Beulen?”

“Yeah. I don’t think there are any other ‘Anja’s at the school, are there?”

She leans over the back of her chair and looks at me with narrowed eyes. “Are you aware of the… rumors surrounding her?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” I tell her bluntly. “Unlike you, I don’t pay attention to petty gossip.”

“Hmm… well, if you learned what the rumors are, you might just care,” she replies ominously.

At that moment, I’m saved by the ringing of the bell.

“Oh! We better head to English,” Zoe says. “Talk to you guys later!”

As we leave the band hall together, I notice that Zoe seems stressed about something- she’s breathing more deeply than usual.

“Is everything okay?” I ask her.

“Yeah. I’m just nervous for the quiz today,” she confesses.

“You mean the one in English, or the one in Biology?” I ask.

Her eyes fly open. “We have a quiz in English???” she asks in a frightened voice.

“Relax. I’m sure it’s going to be easy,” I assure her. Nevertheless, her anxious state is considerably heightened for the rest of our time walking to class.

* * *

However, Zoe and I are quite surprised to walk into class and find the desks arranged in groups of three. I guess we’re not having a quiz, then.

“I’ve decided to postpone the quiz until tomorrow,” Ms. Truman explains. “Today, we will be doing a group project.”

“Phew. That’s a relief,” Zoe says as we sit down at an empty table. “Now I have another day to prepare!”

“Personally,” I comment, “I prefer to know what to expect when I walk into class.”

As I’m getting my things out of my backpack, I notice something odd. Some boy I’ve never seen before is standing near our desk, glancing around nervously. He’s almost my height, a bit muscular, and has short, brown hair that’s ruffled up and rectangular glasses.

“What do you want?” I ask him, looking him in the eyes.

“Um… is... can I…” he stutters, looking flustered for some reason.

“Oh, do you need a group?” Zoe asks kindly. “You can sit with us for today.”

“Yeah. Thanks,” he says, looking relieved.

He sits down, takes a deep breath, and then looks at me. “Ashley, right?”

“Yes.”

“Nice to meet you,” he greets, nodding curtly. “My name’s Kevin.”

“I’m Zoe!” Zoe says, reaching out to shake his hand. “Anyways, we need to find out what it is we’re supposed to be doing…”

I grab a hand-out that’s sitting on my desk. “Let’s see… instructions. I’ll just read it to you guys, since we only have one.”

* * *

The rest of the class period goes fairly well. I was initially worried that this Kevin guy may try to cause us trouble, but he seems fine. With the quiz in English cancelled, I set my sights on the next quiz I have that day: AP Human Geography. I can be fairly certain that it won’t be cancelled, as this class is taught by a competent teacher.

While reviewing my flashcards in the minutes before class, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I don’t even turn to look around, because I have a strange feeling that I know what’s about to happen.

“Hey Ashley! Can I… see those real quick?”

It’s Zoe’s friend Diana. As you can tell, she’s basically one of those kids who wants to get through school without putting any work in. So obviously, I tell her, “No.”

“...No? Please Ashley? I’m panicking!”

“That’s not my fault,” I say, because it isn’t. I’m the one who went through the trouble to put these together, not her.

I would’ve loved to get back to reviewing, but at that point I’m interrupted yet again, by a familiar, whiny voice which is now impersonating a stereotypical old English accent, saying “Sorry, the peasants must payeth thy taxes before speaking to the queen!”

I turn my head head to right, and I see him: Mason Wallace.

Mason Wallace is a boy whom I dislike possibly more than anyone else on the entire planet. I understand from the Bible that hatred is a sin, but I gotta admit, I fucking hate him. He’s comparable to Draco Malfoy, except without any of Draco’s more redeeming qualities from the later books. I mean, he even has the blonde hair.

There he sits, grinning at me in such a way so as to invoke my inner sadist. Okay, no, wait, this is important, I need to interrupt myself again to make this point. Let me give you an idea here. You know how Anja has that smile she sometimes gives me that just inexplicably annoys me? Mason’s is like, 100 times worse. Scratch that, 200 times.

“You saved the day again!” He says to me. “You sure showed Diana the importance of preparing b-”

“Mason. Shut the fuck up. I’m studying.” I whisper, cutting him off mid-sentence. Because I am not in the mood to put up with his shit.

He smirks at me, evidently delighted that he got a reaction out of me. Which is the wrong response. If he knew what was going on inside my brain, he would be sprinting out of the classroom as fast as he can.

Fortunately for him, the quiz is being passed out at that point. Next time…

* * *

<Zoe>

The atmosphere of the lunch table today feels remarkably different today than usual. Ashley and Anja both look unusually serious. Well, to be more accurate, Anja looks unusually serious, and Ashley looks about the same as usual. It gives the area a tense vibe, and I get the impression that both of them are anticipating something.

“Hi guys,” I say timidly, afraid of breaking the mood. “What’s up?”

“Oh, hi Zoe. We’re going to have a serious talk with Nova,” Ashley asserts.

“Oh really? About what?” I inquire.

Ashley and Anja glance at each other, and Ashley shakes her head very slightly. Anja seems to know what this means, and sighs morosely.

“Nova’s been going through a tough time in his personal life recently,” Anja explains. “We’re worried about him, so we want to help him… talk it out.”

“Actually, you may be able to help us,” Ashley says to me. “I think that… I may have gotten on Nova’s bad side this morning. I’d appreciate it if you could help me talk to him.”

“I don’t know what I could do to help,” I admit. “I barely know him.”

“You’re good at getting people to trust you,” Ashley assures me. “You can take my word for it.”

Nova comes over to the table at that moment, Ashley begins before he even has a chance to sit down.

“Nova. Before you pull out your DS, it’s time we talk about that important subject we referenced earlier.”

“It’s a 3DS,” Nova replies, looking annoyed with her.

“Whatever,” Ashley says back. “Anja, do you want to do the honors?”

Anja looks down at the table solemnly. “Well… I’ve been talking with Ashley, and I think we’ve found a way to... help you out.”

“Help me out with what?” Nova asks skeptically.

“With your custody case,” Anja explains.

Nova glares at her. “How much does she know about it?” he presses her, clearly referring to Ashley. “I didn’t think you were going to go around telling other people about it.”

“I know the basics,” Ashley interjects quickly. “But I want to hear most of it from you. I need an idea of how serious the situation is.”

“And why should I tell you anything?” Nova protests, shooting a betrayed look at Anja.

“Nova, you have to trust me,” Anja tells him, speaking gingerly. “I wouldn’t have done what I did… except I really think we have a fighting chance here. There’s a way we can get you through this.”

Nova looks despondent. He’s now just staring off into space, drumming his fingers on the table subconsciously. Something about the look in his eyes looks familiar to me… I’m not sure what moves me to do it, but I start talking.

“I know that we don’t know each other very well,” I begin, “But you can tell us whatever is going on with you. If there’s any way we can help... we will.”

For a moment, he doesn’t react to what I said in any way. However, after a few seconds, he begins talking.

* * *

“So, let me get this straight,” Ashley says after Nova is done explaining. “Pavia’s going to give custody of you and your sister back to your mom, because… why?”

“Because he’s a prick!” Nova spits, his face contorted with fury over the tale he just recounted. This whole time his eyes have been seemingly fixed down on the table, away from everyone’s eyes.

“Ah. Well thank you Nova, that clears up everything.”

“I think what Ashley means is, he must have some sort of legal argument,” Anja cuts in. “Didn’t you say something to me earlier about him not liking your dad?”

“He thinks that my mom would be a better caretaker because she has more money,” Nova explains, sneering. “But that’s bullshit. My dad works two jobs to care for us and pay for our shitty apartment. You can’t say that he doesn’t care.”

I gasp unconsciously. I always thought that this town was a fairly wealthy one, so it never occurred to me that there are people here who struggle just to get by. Nova finally looks up from the table and momentarily makes eye contact with me, giving me an odd, blank look.

“It sounds like he might think he’s doing the right thing, then,” Ashley comments, almost more to herself than to anyone else.

Nova shakes his head, his eyes returning downward. “We’ve told him about the way my mom acts; how she throws things at people when she gets home and insults us. My dad’s talked about it, I’ve talked about it, even Kat has come in to talk about it; but he believes my mom over all of us.”

Ashley looks deep in thought; it’s like she’s trying to solve a complicated math problem in her head.

“Well, we can’t talk about it much in here, because it’s very personal,” Anja explains, “But Ashley and I might just know a way to help you out of this.”

This intrigues me. What could Ashley and Anja do to help Nova with a legal case like this? Perhaps they want to coach him on legal arguments or something? I want to ask, but it sounds like the type of thing that’s none of my business.

Nova doesn’t seem to be convinced; instead of answering, he returns to drumming his fingers on the table agitatedly.

After a moment of this, Ashley snaps, “Nova, would you cut that out?”

“Cut what out?” Nova replies, not looking at her.

Ashley sighs, and evidently decides to let it slide. “Whatever. Let’s plan to meet up tomorrow. We need to go over what exactly we have in mind for how to resolve this situation, first of all. In addition, there are some outstanding claims about Pavia that we need to investigate before taking action.”

“Well, whatever we’re doing, we better do it by next Thursday,” Nova comments. “That’s when he said he’s making a final decision about the custody case.”

“Damn. It would’ve been nice if you mentioned that earlier,” Ashley replies, looking peeved. “Well, you must understand that we are working with powers that are greater than any one of us. We absolutely can’t afford to make a hasty decision.”

“Doing nothing is not an option, Ashley,” Anja asserts. “If you know how to help and do nothing, you’re responsible for the outcome.”

“And if you rush into a decision without thinking it through because you feel like you must do something, you’re responsible for the unintended consequences of your actions too!” Ashley argues back. “Ask your friends in Congress, who passed a bill they hadn’t even read through, and guess what? It turned out to be a disaster!”

This pushes Anja over the edge, and the two begin to have a heated political discussion about healthcare or something. This stuff is over my head, so I quickly lose track of the discussion.

While I didn’t ultimately contribute very much to the conversation in hindsight, I think I was at least able to help with what Ashley wanted me to do. After I spoke to Nova, he opened up to us about his situation. It was really heartbreaking to hear about what he’s going through; I pray that somehow or another, he’s able to get through it and be able to find peace.

* * *

<Ashley>

At long fucking last, I’m done with tests and quizzes for the day. Just got done with my first root word quiz in Biology. Pretty sure I nailed it.

As I walk out of the classroom, however, I bump into Zoe. This occurrence is not unlikely, given that she has class in the same room afterwards.

She just about runs into me, looking scared halfway out of her wits. “How was it?” she asks. “I don’t even know what is the how this going.”

…Did I just have a stroke, or was that total gibberish?

“Um… can you say that again, slowly?” I ask her.

Zoe just looks up at me, looking as if she’s about to burst into tears. “How can you stay so calm all the time? Every time I have to take another test I feel like my brain is slowly unraveling…”

“Zoe, there’s nothing wrong with you,” I say as softly as I can manage. “You just have… uh, testing anxiety.”

“Are you sure I’m not just stupid?”

“W- No, Zoe, you’re not stupid.” I put my hands on Zoe’s shoulders. “And I go to this school, so I know all about stupid.”

Zoe smiles and seems a little calmer. “Well, okay…”

I pull her into a hug, hoping that it will help her stay calm. She returns it gladly… it’s rather nice, honestly.

At this point, I see a few other girls walk near us; the same trio that Zoe was talking to this morning. I guess Diana’s a bit salty about what happened in Human Geo, because she’s glaring at me. Terra is also giving me a suspicious look. I quickly release Zoe, and we both head to our respective classes.


	10. The Game (August 30)

<Anja>

After I unexpectedly stumbled across a new power on Thursday, Ashley is now considering the idea I had to use the Metaverse to help save Nova from being returned to an abusive parent. However, she understandably has some reservations about jumping into it blind, so we’re making some basic preparations. First of all, we need to get Nova up to speed about what the plan is, so he has a better idea of what type of intel we need in regard to Pavia’s cognition. Second, we need to do some digging into Pavia’s record, to find out if this one incident reflects a broader pattern of behavior. I’ll bet you $20 it does, but we still need to find proof first.

I park next to the tiny building at the front of Nova’s apartment complex to pick him up, since I can’t go through the gate. I message him to let him know I’m here, and a few minutes later he comes dashing up to the car.

“I thought you didn’t have your license yet?” He asks me, as he climbs into my car. 

“Yeah, I’m not  _ really  _ supposed to be driving without an adult,” I explain, backing out of the parking lot. “But as long as I don’t leave town, I should be fine.”

“Better not get pulled over.”

“I won’t. Don’t you worry, I’m a  _ very  _ responsible driver.”

“Why does that not reassure me?” he asks, and I have a hard time determining if he’s teasing me or not. He gets his DS out and says, “Anyways, so what’s the big idea you guys have?”

“Well… let’s wait until we get to Ashley’s to discuss it. You probably won’t believe it until you see it.”

“Oh man. It’s one of  _ those _ things?”

“Yes. But if this judge is guilty of what we think he is, this may be the only way to help you out of this situation with your parents.”

“And what if it doesn’t work?”

“Well, I guess in the worst-case scenario, you’d only have to be with your mom until you’re eighteen. And most custody settlements allow for some visitation with the other parent.”

He shakes his head. “No way I’m staying with that bitch. Four days would be too much.”

“That’s… quite a strong way to talk about your own mother.”

“I never fully told you about what she did.” 

He lets out a hefty sigh. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him jabbing the buttons a little more angrily than before.

“She… really hated how much I play video games. Sometimes, when she had a bad day at work, she’d get home and just scream at me about it. She told me that I was wasting my life, that I was ‘socially inept,’ that I was going to be on my own after high school and would probably end up homeless…”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. Also, when my grades were bad, she’d sometimes go into a rage and break one of my game discs. I never got to finish Paper Mario for the GameCube.”

“Oh no! That’s a good one. I’ll lend it to you sometime so you can finish it.”

“Thanks, Anja. She yelled at my sister too, though not as much. She stopped playing games with me for a while because she was too afraid of being yelled at. She yelled at my dad the most. Hit him, too, and threw stuff around. She blamed him for both of us being horrible children, and also for not getting a high-paying job. Not like we needed it, she makes so much as a lawyer for Vermillion Oil.”

I find this interesting for a few reasons… But for now, the only question I can ask is this. “Nova, if you don’t mind me asking… why did your parents get married?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll ask him sometime for you.”

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that. It’s normal for parents to want their children to succeed. My dad gives me extra allowance if I get all As and Bs. But that is just… horrible.”

“Well, maybe. But my mom wasn’t entirely wrong about me, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

He’s silent for a moment. “Can I tell you something that you have to promise to keep a secret?” He asks in a softer tone.

“Of course. My lips are sealed.”

“Several years ago, some doctor I was seeing said that I had… this thing called ‘Asperger’s.’”

“Oh! Yes, I am familiar with that.”

“Oh, you are? Well, Mom really wasn’t happy about that diagnosis. She thinks that I’m just gonna use it as an excuse to be mediocre and get out of doing work. Dad always defended me by saying that it wasn’t my fault that I have it. But Mom was kind of right in the end. All I do is play video games, and my grades suck. I am pretty much doomed once I become an adult.”

“Don’t say that about yourself! There’s no reason why you can’t do whatever you set your mind to.”

“Yeah, that’s what they always tell me. But you know what? I try to do things the way other kids do it, and it doesn’t work. It’s like my brain is defective. I’m never going to be like everyone else.”

“You’re right; you won’t be.”

“Yeah… wait, did you really just tell me that?” He responds, jolting in surprise once he realized what I said.

“Yes. You won’t ever be like everyone else. You can’t do things the same way that other people can. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t succeed in life in your  _ own _ way.”

“Uh… Anja, I don’t think being good at Smash Bros counts at succeeding in life. I guess I could try entering tournaments…”

“No, I don’t mean that. I mean, you can do things that other people do, and be good at them. But the way you do them will just be different. With the right strategies, though, you can do whatever your heart desires. And you know, in some ways, being on the autism spectrum is a gift! You may be bad at some things most people are good at, but it works in reverse too; you’re also good at some things most people are bad at.”

“Huh. It doesn’t feel like it.”

“Well, I guarantee that you are. But… we probably need to talk about this later, we’re almost to Ashley’s house.”

We’re pulling onto her street then, and I see Ashley waiting for us on the front porch, serious as ever.

“Oh boy. Here we go,” Nova groans as I pull into the driveway.

We hop out of my car and head over to the porch where Ashley is. “Hey there Ash!” I greet.

“Hey. Now that you’re here, follow me,” Ashley tells us simply.

“Yes ma’am,” I reply teasingly.

Ashley starts leading us to the Methodist Church where I met Ted the Armadillo. 

“You’re taking us to  _ church _ ?” Nova asks incredulously. “I haven’t been in a church for years now.”

“We’re not going inside, we just need to hang out behind it,” Ashley explains. “This isn’t even the church we usually go to.”

“Why wouldn’t you just go here?” Nova inquires. “It’s literally a two-minute walk from your house.”

“Because, Nova…” She sighs. “Religion is complicated.”

Eventually, we reach the picnic tables. Ashley, without any further ado, pulls out her phone and hits the app.

* * *

I hear someone screaming as soon as we reach the other side, for a terrifying moment I think we are being attacked. However, it turns out the screaming is just from Nova.

“WHAT… WHAT THE F…”

He seems utterly at a loss for words. He’s turning around wildly and looks like he’s about to start ripping his own hair out.

“Oh yeah…” I say, “Sorry, Nova. We probably should have warned him.”

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?” he finally stutters out, glaring at Ashley with tufts of hair still in his hands.

“Will you calm the fuck down!” Ashley commands him.

“NO! I WON’T!” Nova yells. He finally releases his hair, and instead kicks a nearby picnic table in frustration. Impressively, he’s actually able to knock it straight over.

“Just quit acting like a child and sit down!” Ashley snarls, taking a seat at the now-velvet picnic table closest to her. I follow her.

Then, from out of the woods comes Ted, dashing on all fours and then making a leap with surprising agility up on top of the table. “Is everything alright?” he asks. “Your friend is very distressed.”

When Nova sees Ted, it breaks him. He instantly freezes in the exact position he was in, as if paralyzed, and just stares at the little cowboy armadillo in front of him. 

“DID THAT THING JUST TALK?” Nova shouts.

“Don’t call him a ‘thing,’ Nova,” Ashley chastises him. “Just sit down already.”

Ashley’s harsh attitude does absolutely nothing to calm him down, as he is now yanking his hair again. I feel as if it’s time for me to intervene. I walk over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey Nova. I know that this must be really confusing, but…”

“Anja… what’s up with your outfit?” Nova asks curiously, staring down at my front. “I’ve never seen you dress up like that before.”

“Oh, this is my Persona!” I explain to him.

“Your  _ Persona _ ?” he questions with a somewhat horrified expression. 

Basically, once you awaken one, you can fight and use magic and stuff.” Ashley explains. “Anja and I already did ours.”

“ _ Awaken _ one?” Nova asks, turning towards her. “How do you do that?”

“By necessity,” Ashley replies. “They awaken during really dangerous situations.”

“It requires… coming to terms with your inner shadow,” Ted explains. “During dangerous situations, we call upon our inner strength to accomplish things we never knew were possible. There are other means of awakening Personas as well, but that is the method these two have experienced.”

“Yeah, when I awakened mine, I was being grabbed by a bunch of vines and shit!” I explain. “They were like, lassoing my limbs and stuff! I couldn’t move.”

“Wow. I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going.”

Both of us break into laughter at this. Ashley seems unamused.

“You know, Nova… you’re saying that as a joke, but honestly that is kind of true,” I admit. “The situation was very rapey…”

“Oh shit, you’re serious?” Nova asks, looking as if he now feels bad about laughing.

“Don’t feel bad. It  _ was _ still pretty funny. But yeah, it wasn’t funny when it was happening.”

“Right. I guess it’s not fun when it happens in real life.”

“I’m sorry, what exactly are you two going on about?” Ashley asks, frowning.

“Well, you know. Haven’t you ever seen those hentai videos where there’s a bunch of tentacles and…”

“No, I haven’t, actually. Is that a real thing people watch? I thought it was just a weird meme.”

“Well, it  _ is _ a meme too. But yes, it’s real. You see, tentacle porn actually has roots in Japanese history. Back in the post-WWII era, the government had strong censorship laws, so to get around them…”

“Okay, I don’t really care,” Ashley cuts me off. “I’m not having this conversation with you when we’re supposed to be planning for something serious. Remember, this was  _ your  _ idea!”

“Yes, yes. My apologies, your highness...”

Ashley glares at me so hard that I feel like I’m about to spontaneously combust. It was totally worth it, though.

“Okay… are you two ready to take your seats now?” Ashley asks.

“Fine,” Nova says begrudgingly. “But this is still weird as fuck.”

“Yeah, well, get used to it,” Ashley states bluntly.

Nova very slowly sits down at the table, and I follow him. Then, without further explanation, Ashley pulls her phone out again and starts… calling someone?

“Uh, Ashley?” I have to question. “I don’t think we’re going to get any service here.”

“Shut up.”

To my shock, after a few seconds, I hear someone speaking from the other end.

“Hello again, Ashley. So, it is time now, is it not?”

“Who the fuck are you?” Nova asks.

“Ah, there’s a new voice! Hello, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Lucy!”

“Uh… hi. I’m Nova.”

“Nova, huh? That’s an unusual name.”

“It’s for an unusual person,” Ashley jabs. For this, Nova gives her the middle finger.

“My name is Anja,” I say.

“Anja… is that a Polish name?” Lucy asks.

“Uhh… I think?”

“So Ashley,” Lucy says, “Anja’s your girlfriend, right?”

“No, she’s not,” Ashley says quickly. I swear I can almost see a shadow of a blush on her face…

“Well, when am I gonna meet the special girl then?” Lucy continues to inquire.

“Probably never. Also, Ted is here. Say hi, Ted,” Ashley says, clearly trying desperately to leave the subject.

“Howdy. Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Ted greets.

“Same to you. I’ve heard good things about you,” Lucy replies cordially.

“So, you’re the one from the book, huh?” I ask Lucy.

“The book?” Nova asks, annoyed at yet again being left out of the loop. “What book?”

“I’ve been in contact with Ashley here using a special artifact of my own invention,” Lucy explains.

“Yeah, it’s confusing. We’ll figure it out as we go,” I assure Nova.

“Okay, enough lollygagging around,” Ashley cuts in sternly. “Lucy, we have found our first target. We just need to know how to proceed in changing his heart.”

Lucy giggles very loudly. It’s sort of creepy, like the giggle of a serial killer. “Ah, very good! Who’s our first customer?”

“Our local Justice of the Peace, Timothy Pavia,” I explain. 

“Going after politicians already!” Lucy says, impressed. “I was expecting you to start with your neighborhood drug dealer or something.”

“His crimes: trying to force Nova and his little sister to move back in with their abusive mother; classism; probably corruption, though that part is pending investigation; possibly racism? Aren’t you mixed?”

“Uh… my dad is black, my mom is Hispanic,” Nova explains.

“Okay. So definitely classism, not sure about the race part.”

“Can he really do that?” Lucy questions. “In most states, the child is allowed to pick which parent they go with once they’re about thirteen.”

“Yeah, well, you can thank Gov. Schneider for that one,” I explain. (Because in some alternate universe where someone else had been elected governor in 2002, the laws probably wouldn’t be as bad as they are.)

“It’s also worth considering that the courts are rigged in favor of women when it comes to this stuff,” Ashley comments. “You can thank feminism for that.”

“Hey! Don’t blame feminism!” I shout at her. “Feminism is about gender equality!”

“Yeah, it’s  _ supposed  _ to be. But recently I’ve noticed…”

“Please don’t start this bullshit right now!” Nova interjects. “You’re the one who was trying to keep us focused earlier!”

Lucy chuckles over the phone. “You two remind me of a couple of my old friends. They disagreed a lot, but I know they loved each other deep down.”

“Well… anyway. Let’s get back on topic,” Ashley says sheepishly.

“Alright. If you’re going to change this man’s heart, the first thing you need to do is get into his palace,” Lucy explains. “The process of infiltrating Palaces used to be pretty involved, but I’ve refined the app to make it pretty simple for you guys. All you need to do is find out where the Palace is.”

“Indeed. How about you explain the concept of ‘Palaces’ to the others for me?” Ashley requests.

“Sure thing. Palaces can take a variety of forms. It’ll be located at some location that is important to your target, usually their workplace. You’ll be able to easily tell what’s a Palace and what’s not by the lack of the normal esoteric color scheme and aesthetic.”

Suddenly, I gasp, remembering something. “Lucy… can a Palace take the form of a  _ jungle _ ?”

“It might. Why do you ask?” Her tone of voice has changed somewhat. She now sounds much more concerned than before.

“When we entered the Metaverse at school, we ended up in some weird jungle,” Ashley explains.

“Yeah, that’s how my Persona got unlocked. I was being held in place by a bunch of vines!” I add, shuddering slightly.

There’s a sharp exhale of breath from Lucy’s end. “That is… very bad news. I’ve encountered Palaces like that before, and they are the ones that belong to some of the most sick and twisted people in the world.”

“Do you think that’s Pavia’s Palace?” Nova asks.

“No way, why would his Palace be the  _ school? _ ” Ashley retorts.

“It most likely belongs to somebody who’s teaching there, or maybe another student with an aggressive streak,” Lucy explains. “All I can say is… watch your back while you’re there.”

“So, we just need to avoid entering at the school for now,” I summarize. “And Pavia’s Palace will most likely be the courthouse.”

“Alright, what do we do once we find it?” Ashley presses. 

“You will have to make your way through whatever lies for you inside. There will be enemies, and probably puzzles as well. If you persevere, though, you’ll make it to the room of the big boss, where you will fight a monstrous version of your target. Generally, the more evil the person is, the more difficult the Palace is to get through.”

“What kind of ‘monstrous form’ do you mean?” Nova questions.

Ashley waves him off. “A lot of different things. Tell us what we do after we fight the thing, I haven’t heard this part yet.”

“Once you’ve defeated whatever monster is in the final room, you have two options. You may either convince the target to change their ways, which will allow you to fix the target’s behavior in real life; or, you can simply kill the target’s shadow form, which will cause them a rather gruesome death in real life as well. Since this is a pretty low-level baddie here, I wouldn’t recommend killing him. But some people’s crimes… cannot be forgiven.”

There is a brief pause following that rather ominous statement, in which we all sort of look around at each other. Nova is back to drumming his fingers on the table and appears to be thinking.

“So, it’s that simple, huh?” Ashley asks in confirmation. “Thanks for the intel. Anything else we need to know?”

“Yes, one more thing. There are… other beings in the Metaverse other than shadows. Such as shape shifting demons, or even other Persona users you don’t recognize. Don’t worry about it now, as your chances of running into them on your first job are astronomical. But, if you run into something highly unusual like that, let me know.”

“Uh… so what do we do if we run into one of those?” I ask nervously.

“Run away and pray.” Lucy says simply. “But like I said, don’t worry about it right now.”

I bite my lip a little bit. I have a difficult time  _ not _ worrying about it, if I’m honest.

“We’ll let you know if we run into anything like that,” Ashley says conclusively. “I think that’ll be all for now.”

“Alright then. From here on out, it’ll be up to you lot to do the work,” Lucy explains. “Good luck to you all.” She hangs up.

For the rest of the afternoon, Ashley fills us in on the remaining gaps in our knowledge of this stuff, and then we plot phase two of our operation. Since we have Monday off for Labor Day, we plan to meet again then to discuss whatever we can find out about Pavia’s background. But until then we, uh… Idk. Tune in next time to find out!


	11. The Brown Widow (August 31)

<Zoe>

“Hey Zoe. It’s time to get up.”

Hmm, someone is speaking to me. I try to remember what I had just been dreaming about. It was another happy one, but…

“Hey slowpoke, we gotta go to church!”

I open my eyes. This time, it’s my older brother Derrick who was sent to wake me.

“Give me a minute. I’m trying to remember what I was dreaming about before you came in.”

“Oh, you had a dream?” he asks, looking slightly snoopy. “Feel like sharing?”

“Hmm… I was outside a convenience store with our parents. There was… a little boy, with brown skin, who seemed lost. Then, some man came up to him and started saying mean things… I think it was supposed to be one of those KKK guys.”

“Oh…” Derrick says, looking a little horrified.

“And I told our parents that we should help the boy, but they said not to get involved. But then, Ashley walked out of the store. I said she needed to help, so she punched the racist guy, and he ran away.”

“Wait… which Ashley do you mean?”

“Davis. The girl who comes over sometimes.”

“Oh right, the redhead. Okay, continue on.”

“Well anyway, I went up to the little boy and asked him where his parents were. He said that he didn’t have any. Then, Ashley turned to me and said, ‘well, if he doesn’t have any parents, maybe we should adopt him.’ I agreed… hmm. I don’t remember what happened next…”

Derrick frowns at me. “A word of advice: I wouldn’t talk about that last part with our parents.”

“Wait, really? Why?”

“Well… adopting a child is usually only something people do when they’re _married_ , Zoe.”

Suddenly, what he’s saying hits me all at once and I start blushing furiously. “What… no! It wasn’t like that! We just felt sorry for the little boy!”

“All I’m saying is that our parents might interpret that a _certain way_. Got it?”

I bite my lip. “Yes. I understand.”

That said, as I get ready for the day, I can’t shake the feeling that the dream I had gave me. The truth is, what I told Derrick when he asked me about the adopting thing was kind of a lie. Whenever Ashley said that in my dream, it made me really happy… What could it mean? It can’t mean what Derrick thought it meant. No, I don’t even want to think about that…

* * *

Inside the church, I find that Ashley is not here yet. However, Terra and Diana have arrived and are talking about something in a middle row. In fact, they’re motioning for me to come over. I walk over to join them.

“Good morning, Zoe,” Terra says. “We want to talk to you about something before the service starts.”

“Um, sure thing,” I agree, taking a seat nearby.

“Do you remember what we talked about the other day at school?”

I think back to the previous week. “You mean the conversation we had about that space superhero movie?”

“Uh, no. Not that.”

“I think she means the rumors about Ashley’s new friend,” Diana interjects, leaning over the pew in front of us. “You’ve heard them, right?”

“Um… I don’t remember,” I say, shifting uncomfortably.

“It was something that happened when Anja was in sixth grade,” Terra explains, a serious look on her face. “She was caught kissing another girl. It was someone in her grade named Ruth.”

“Oh… right,” I say stupidly, not knowing how to respond.

“Ever since then, most people know better than to get too close to her. I’m sure you imagine what that would look like. But… Ashley seems rather oblivious to that, don’t you think?”

They’re looking at me expectantly, but I find myself getting rather flustered, my thoughts a confused jumble. “Um… Well…”

“No need to get so nervous. We’re not trying to grill you or anything. It’s just something I wanted to make sure you’re aware of. I realize that you and Ashley are close… In fact, you’ve managed to achieve a level of amicability with her that few others can.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Diana agrees. “She’s such a”- she mouths the b-word- “to everyone else. I’ve always thought that she has issues… no offense to you, Zoe.”

I try to think of a defense for her, but my mind draws a blank. Then, I see Ashley herself walking in with her parents. She looks a bit dour today.

“You can go talk to her,” Terra says, following my gaze. “I’m just letting you know; you should be careful with her. That’s all.”

“Uh… right. Thanks,” I say. To save myself from having to continue that conversation, I get up and walk over to where Ashley’s preparing to sit down.

“Good morning, Zoe,” she tells me.

“Morning! Um… you look kind of down. Are you feeling okay?”

“What… oh, it’s nothing. I’m just bummed about Glenn Cornick passing away.”

“Who’s that?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I think we’re about to begin,” Ashley’s dad tells me plainly. “You may want to find your seat.”

“Yes, I will,” I agree. “Ashley… let’s talk on Skype later. It’s important.”

“Sure. Talk to you later,” Ashley says.

I return to my seat near the rest of my family. For some reason, what Terra and Diana told me makes me uneasy. I’m having difficulty figuring out why, however…

* * *

I’m in my room putting on more casual clothes after church, when I hear my phone buzz. It’s Ashley… I sit down on the bed and take a deep breath. I’m asking about a rather sensitive subject, so I need to choose my next words very carefully…

Hey Zoe. You said you wanted to talk about something?

Yes. I wanted to ask if you kno anything about some of the rumors surrounding Anja.

Not you too.

No, I don’t mean it like that. I promise.

Well, if these rumors are really that important, go ahead and spill it.

Okay. In sixth grade, Anja was caught kissing another girl.

Oh.

I thought you were going to say that she smokes weed.

Do you think she does that??

No, she just kinda seems like the type.

Anyways, I wasn’t aware of that, no.

How does that information make you feel?

Honestly? I don’t care.

I had kind of guessed that she may be like that already.

But it doesn’t affect how I feel about being friends with her.

So you consider her a friend?

Yes.

She may be kind of annoying, but at this point we’re stuck together.

And I do admire her commitment to justice…

But you can’t tell her I said that.

Okay. I won’t.

I just wanted to check in with you. No issues here.

Good to hear.

I feel very relieved after this conversation. Anja maybe be like that, but she’s not… _with_ Ashley. Knowing that is very encouraging…

But wait a minute. Something about that doesn’t make any sense.

Terra and Diana were concerned about that because they didn’t think I should be friends with someone like that… but isn’t that technically still true? I mean, we haven’t known each other for very long, but Anja still counts as a friend. Is there anything to logically be relieved about here? Hmm…

My confusion is interrupted by my mother coming into my room. “Hey Zoe,” she greets. “You’ve looked rather lost in thought today. Is anything on your mind?”

“Um… yes, kind of.” I say. I explain to her the beginning of the dream I had last night. However, I stop before getting to the ending part with me and Ashley. After everything that’s happened today, I feel too uncomfortable about that bit to talk about it.

“I wanted to ask you,” I say after finishing my summary. “If someone around us is in trouble… shouldn’t we help them? Didn’t the Lord say that any passing beggar could be an angel in disguise?”

My mom chuckles at this. “Zoe, I wouldn’t dwell too much on something that happens in a dream. It’s not real.”

“But… what if something like that _does_ happen in real life?” I press her. I think about Anja. My other friends want me to quit being her friend because she’s… different. But I also feel bad for her… wouldn’t she be lonely if none of us were friends with her?

“Well, Zoe…” my mother explains, “It’s good to help people when you can. But you have to make sure first and foremost that you’re taking care of yourself. You know how those airplane safety booklets say to put the mask on yourself before helping anyone else? That logic applies to life as well.”

“I guess so…” I say. But I’m not really satisfied with that. I wasn’t disputing that I should take care of myself. I meant that if I was perfectly capable of helping, I should. Still, I don’t press this because I’m worried that I’ll annoy her.

“I know you have a tender heart, Zoe,” Mom assures me. “But if you don’t look out for yourself, you won’t be able to help anyone at all. Just remember that, okay?”

“Yes, mother.”

She smiles at me and steps out of the room. Well, that didn’t really clear anything up at all…

* * *

<Nova>

My sister is terrible at Smash Bros, and she just can’t seem to accept that fact. She plays as Jigglypuff, one of the worst characters in the game, and seems to think she can win by doing nothing but spamming specials, especially Sing. 

“Come on! Just let me win for once!” she whines, after my twelfth consecutive victory.

“No. You just have to get good.”

“I’m your sister!”

“Yeah, exactly. That’s why I can’t let you win.”

She pouts something fierce at me. Then, she pushes me. 

“I bet I can beat you up in real life!” she declares.

“Get real!” I retort, pushing her back. 

She pounces towards me, but I’m ready to meet her hands halfway. I topple her over again and try to grab her and lift her in a fireman’s carry, but she’s big enough now to where that doesn’t work anymore, so we just both fall onto the couch.

“Get off of me, idiot!” she screeches, as she repeatedly punches my back. 

“Say uncle!” I demand.

“Why would I say that?”

“I don’t know, I heard a guy at school say that once! Just say it!”

I hear the sound of chuckling over me and look up to see that it’s Dad. We must have not noticed him coming home from work because of all the noise we were making. He’s looking at us with a weird expression; am I in trouble?

“After you two break it up, I’ll take you to get some ice cream,” he states.

“Oh really? Can we go to Sonic?” Kat asks, hastily jumping up from the couch.

“Whatever you want,” he says hoarsely, smiling at us. “Just go get your shoes on!”

* * *

While driving out there, I remember Anja and I’s conversation from the previous day. I suppose now is an ideal time to ask Dad something I’ve been wondering about since then…

“Hey Dad,” I say. “How come you and Mom got married, anyway?”

He doesn’t answer immediately, as he’s concentrating on turning through a stoplight. Once he’s done with that, he replies, “Pssh… because I was an idiot, that’s why.

“Nova, listen to this very carefully, because my life’s story is one you should use as an example of what _not_ to do. This applies to you too, Kat. I actually went to college for a while when I was younger. I ended up flunking out. Too much time spent smoking weed, not enough time spent studying.”

“Wait, you’ve smoked weed before?” Kat pipes up excitedly. “What does it feel like?”

Dad frowns at her. “Never you mind. Neither of you kids should be getting involved with anything illegal.”

“What if it becomes legal?” Kat inquires. “I heard it’s legal in Colorado now.”

“It won’t be legal _here_ anytime soon,” I counter her. “Texas will be one of the last states to ever legalize it.”

Dad seems impressed with me. “Huh. I guess they are teaching you something in that school,” he comments. (I was actually just repeating something Anja told me a while back. But there’s no reason to correct him, so…)

“Anyways, it seemed like I had no future after flunking out,” Dad continues. “But I had met your mom while at college. She charmed me, just like how she charms that damn judge. She was on her way to law school and had a bright future ahead of her. I figured I’d ask her to marry me, so that if things didn’t work out for me, we could still live comfortably.” He sighs heavily. “Then we got married, and I found out her true nature. That woman’s just like a black widow spider. Doesn’t give a damn about anyone but herself.”

“But she’s not black,” Kat interjects unnecessarily. “So wouldn’t she be more like a _brown_ widow spider?”

“There’s no such thing as a _brown_ widow!” I argue. “I suppose there are brown _recluse_ spiders, but…”

“Look kids, it was just a metaphor,” Dad cuts me off, looking amused. “Here’s what I’m really trying to tell you. You gotta know how to make your own way in the world. You can’t rely on someone else to save you like that, else you’ll just end up a pawn in their selfish game.

“And I’m not just talking about relationships, either. Our leaders do the same god damn thing. Every time someone new takes power in this country, they’re always promising that they alone know the answer, they alone know the best way to benefit the working class. But from my perspective, nothing ever seems to change much…”

This reminds me of Anja. How angry she got on Wednesday. How she got all up in arms about these people in power.

But then, I remember that she said her mother had run for governor years ago. I wonder if her mom ran on the exact same types of promises. I guess we’ll never know if she would’ve lived up to them or not. But it seems like most don’t.

My thoughts are interrupted by our arrival at the Sonic, and from then on, I mostly just think about ice cream. Still, there’s a weird feeling in the air. Dad seems rather morose the whole time. I suppose if the trial this week doesn’t work out, this could be the last time we all get to see each other like this in a while. I guess I need to get serious about this Metaverse shit. We really can’t afford to fuck this up. Or more specifically, _I_ can’t afford to.

* * *

<BBD>

  1. "Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." - Hebrews 13:1-2




	12. Thieves (September 1)

<Anja>

It’s a hot and humid Labor Day. I did some research on my own at the local library, and I uncovered something which will knock Ashley’s socks off. But first, I have familial obligations to attend to; specifically, my meeting with my Aunt Kierstyn.

Before I head over, I call her cell to let her know beforehand, as she has told me to do. Then, I knock on the door, and she answers after a few seconds.

If you were to take a look at my aunt on the street, you’d probably never guess that she works for the government. She has short hair that’s dyed black, and wears a black leather coat, with matching black leather boots and a belt that is studded with spikes. Definitely a very goth appearance. Or would it be emo…? I don’t know, I can never keep those straight in my brain. (Then again, I can’t ever keep anything straight in my brain. Ha! That’s a good one, I need to remember that.)

“Come on in, Anja,” she says, closing the door behind her and then walking back towards the living room. She has a pretty stoic, detached manner; not too unlike Ashley, now that I think about it.

I consider my own house to be a bit on the messy side, but her house turns it up to another level. On my left I can see a room that is mostly just a bunch of boxes laying on the floor, one of them containing a really old Windows computer. There is also a desk crammed in the corner which has papers strewn across it. Passing by the living room, I see the red couch which I’m pretty sure she usually sleeps on, and the television. The whole house is filthy, and reeks of cigarette smoke; there is dust hanging over everything, and the floor looks like it hasn’t been swept in years.

The dining room table is also strewn with papers. Most of them are just a bunch of legal jargon and news clippings, but there is one that catches my eye: the outline of a map of Texas. There are a bunch of red x’s all over the map with names written next to them. (I see an x slightly north of here that has the name “Roberto Antunez” on it; I wonder if they’re related to Ruth?)

“Oh, you don’t want to look at this stuff,” she says, sighing and shoving a bunch of the paper out of the way so there’s a small part of the table clear. “It is a sad thing. I’ve been asked to keep track of recent teen suicides… for prevention purposes, of course. Depressing shit.”

She takes a seat across from me and starts to light a cigarette. Seeing the pile of papers on the table reminds of something… While she’s distracted, I dig through the papers a bit and find it: the paper with the red eye icon on it! I knew I had seen it from somewhere!

“I said you  _ don’t want to look at it _ ,” she tells me again, sounding annoyed.

“Oh… sorry. It’s just… this has the same symbol that was on my friend’s phone. Remember when I told you about that?”

She rolls her head back, seeming more frustrated. “You know, Anja, we have a saying here in America. It goes, ‘curiosity killed the cat.’ Ever heard that one?”

“Only about a billion times!” I reply.

“Well, you don’t seem to have heeded the message. It  _ killed _ the cat. The cat is dead. Buried. Gone forever.”

So she’s still reluctant to talk about this… Well, even though I now actually know what the app is, it still intrigues me greatly that my Aunt seems to have some involvement with that stuff. I bet if I bother her enough, I can get her to break.

“Yeah, I know. But we’re here, together, in person,” I argue. “No NSA or any of that shit to listen in on us. What’s the worst that could happen?”

For a while, she just sits there, puffing and staring at the wall, seemingly in deep thought. It’s very tempting to interrupt her, but I stay quiet with the hopes that she’s about to spill the beans. Finally, after what must be several minutes, she starts talking.

“That eye is the symbol of a group that called themselves ‘The Thieves In The Night,’ who operated in the early 1990s. This group used supernatural means to change the hearts of those whom they found corrupt or impure.”

“Supernatural means?” I ask, pretending to look surprised at this information. “What does that mean?”

“The Thieves knew how to access a sort of parallel world, known as the Metaverse, which can be used to alter the consciousness of others.”

Whoah. She knows about the  _ whole _ thing! “How do you know all of this?”

She pauses again, and then says, “I used to know someone who was involved with them.”

She sighs heavily and starts twirling the cigarette in her hand. “Of course, this group has been inactive for a long time. They made a lot of enemies with their actions, and so most of them have been hunted down and killed since then. So, if anyone ever asks, you didn’t hear this from me, okay? It’s extremely dangerous to go around talking about The Thieves.”

“What did they do to get people after them?” I ask, spellbound despite myself.

“Well, when you mess with the social order, it tends to mess back,” she explains. “Of course, even to this day they’re pretty popular among the occult population… your friend’s app was likely created by a fan.”

“Who did you know who was a member?” I ask. This information is opening a pandora’s box of possibilities… I wonder if that Lucy woman knows about this group?

“Someone who’s dead now, Anja,” she says bluntly, with a deeply pained expression. “I’d really rather not talk about it.”

“Oh, uh, right. Sorry…” I say, feeling bad that I made her relive that.

I drop the subject, and for the rest of my visit our conversation topics are ordinary, just about school and random stuff. But the story my aunt told me about this Thieves group gets me even more excited. I have so much to report to Ashley now!

* * *

<Ashley>

I may be out of school for Labor Day, but my piano lesson still happened at the regular time. We didn’t go out of town or anything for the weekend, so I told my teacher that we should just do it as normal instead of rescheduling for later in the week. Since I’m meeting up with Anja and Nova afterwards anyway to discuss the Pavia situation, I thought it’d be most efficient to just have Anja pick me up. But she’s late, leaving me to boil in the Texas humidity. What the hell is she doing?

At long last, Anja comes rolling up, Nova in the passenger seat. I climb into the back.

Anja messes with her phone for a little bit before putting the car back in motion.

“I didn’t realize you were old enough to drive.”

For some reason, Anja gives Nova a quick, sharp look. “Well, I am.”

“Well, that’s for the better. We don’t want to generate suspicion.”

“ _ In a quarter mile, turn left onto Mango Street.” _

“You really think you need Google Maps for this?” I question. “Nova could’ve given you directions. This town isn’t that complicated to navigate.”

“I don’t see how it matters.”

“Well, do you really want to tell Google where you are at every second of the day?”

“What are they going to do with that information?”

“I don’t know. Whatever they want. I thought that, being a liberal, you would be more wary of the motives of large corporations.”

“Okay. That’s enough commentary from the peanut gallery.”

I let her focus on driving for now. We decided to meet at the county’s courthouse so that we can check whether or not there is a palace there. If he does indeed have one, it would add more credence to the theory that there is something fundamentally wrong with his judgement. In addition, if it were to exist, the most likely location seems to be the courthouse where he works, based on what Lucy told us on Saturday.

We arrive at our destination shortly after that. I’ve never been to the courthouse before now. It’s a white, rectangular building lined with windows, that has a taller and wider center. It’s almost a little like a mini version of the White House.

“Alright… here’s what I’ve uncovered,” Anja begins after putting the car in park. “Actually, there are two things… but I’ll start with the one that’s more directly relevant to what we’re doing.”

“Fire away,” I say.

She turns around in her seat to face me eagerly. “First of all, I went to the city’s public library, where court records for the past several years are kept. Not the full records; you have to pay money to access those. But I was able to see which judge presided over each trial, and which side he ruled in favor of. And guess what; every single case I checked, he ruled in favor of who was more wealthy!”

“Really. How were you able to tell?”

“I looked up the names of both parties being represented in the case. You can tell who’s bringing in the bigger paycheck by things like what their occupation is, and what kind of family they come from. So? How’s that for proof of the bribery theory?”

“As proof? It’s still rather inconclusive.”

Anja frowns at me. “What? Are you serious? What proof do you want?”

“Think about it, Anja. Your hypothesis is that wealthier people win these trials because they bribe the judge to favor them. But you can’t seriously believe that  _ every single _ rich or even upper middle-class person has low enough integrity to bribe their way out of a civil trial!”

“Sure I do. Why not? Isn’t that just what being rich is like? Just stepping on all the plebeians beneath you to hoard more and more wealth?”

“No! Well, sometimes. But not  _ everyone _ who has money got it through shady means! Have you been reading communist propaganda or something?”

“Whoah there, Ashley. I’m just saying that there’s a lot more dark money floating around than most of us realize.”

I sigh at her, as I frequently do during our talks. “The other thing is, if he was taking bribes in literally every single trial, more people would’ve noticed. I don’t think corruption that blatant would fly even in Chicago. And if he was making that much money, you’d think he’d move on to an office higher than a municipal judge by now.”

“Well… okay, that’s actually a pretty good point.” She sighs. “Yeah, he should be using that money to get into the US Congress. Get on the payrolls of the NRA and Big Oil and whatnot.”

“So wait… did we learn  _ anything _ from this, then?” Nova asks.

“It’s not nothing,” I concede. “If the results were really that consistent in favor of the wealthier party, it marks a notable trend. My guess would be that it’s something more subtle. Perhaps he has a certain circle of litigators he prefers, and the wealthier citizens simply have an easier time accessing them?”

“Ehh… I don’t know,” Anja argues. “Something like that could explain  _ some _ of the outcomes, but Nova’s parents aren’t using any sort of lawyers for their dispute. And his mom lives in a different county, so I can’t imagine they’d have any close ties.”

“Maybe he just thinks rich people are better because he’s screwed up in the head,” Nova suggests.

“Well, we may be able to see what’s going on in his head in a minute here,” I remind him. “But before that… Anja, wasn’t there something else you wanted to tell us?”

“Huh? Oh yeah. While I was at my aunt’s place today, she told me something really interesting…” She went on to tell a story about a different group of people from Texas who supposedly used the Metaverse in the 90s before being murdered by people they had pissed off.

“Wow, so we’re not the first ones to do this?” Nova marvels. “I wonder what other groups have been using this place…”

“The name is so badass, too,” Anja remarks. “’Thieves In The Night…’ That’s a name that inspires fear!”

“I’m sure they got the idea from the Bible,” I add. “The phrase ‘thief in the night’ comes from Thessalonians chapter 5. Paul uses it in reference to an earlier passage from Matthew, in which Jesus uses it as a metaphor for His return to Earth. He says something like, ‘Be prepared, because nobody knows when the Lord is coming. If the master of the house knew when the thief was going to break in, he wouldn’t have gone to bed.’ That’s a rough paraphrase. Undoubtedly, the appropriation of the phrase was meant to warn their targets that their personal judgement days were coming soon.”

“You seriously had that all memorized?” Nova asks. “What a fucking nerd.”

“That means a lot of, coming from you,” I retort. “I seem to recall you recently describing in detail the attributes which led to Mega-Lucario being banned from competitive Pokémon during lunch. You really have no room to judge me for my devotion to my interests.”

“Huh. So you  _ do _ listen to our nerd conversations,” Anja comments, looking amused.

“Anyways, that story is very interesting, Anja. It doesn’t exactly relate to our current situation, but I will try and remember to ask Lucy about this whenever I get a good chance to. For now… let us check the courthouse for a palace.”

“Yeah. We should probably do that before it gets too late,” Anja agrees. At long last, the three of us climb out of Anja’s car and onto the sidewalk by the courthouse.

In the distance, I can see a man exiting the courthouse from the front. I point this out to the others.

“Awh shit! That’s him!” Nova whispers, rolling his eyes. “This guy seriously  _ has _ to go to work on a holiday?”

“Don’t freak out,” I tell him, “What’s he going to do, call the cops on us? Besides, it’s probably better that Anja and I know what he looks like anyway.”

“What if he  _ does  _ call the cops on us?” Anja presses me. “We don’t know what this guy’s damage is.”

“What are you kids doing here?” Pavia asks, still a few yards away.

I turn towards him. He’s an older man, heavily balding. He carries himself in a very pompous way.

“Oh, just walking around,” I say.

“Why  _ here _ of all places?” he questions, furrowing his brow.

“I just find it’s a good place for jogging since there’s usually nobody else around,” I invent quickly. 

“Hmm… perhaps so. It’s good to see kids trying to stay in shape,” he ponders. 

I can’t believe that actually worked. I guess it’s a good thing I have several years of experience in lying. I’ve gotten pretty good at it.

However, the awkward moment isn’t over yet, as he just noticed Nova, who is glaring at him.

“Hmm… you’re the Mosely boy,” he observes. “Are these your friends?”

“Something like that,” he replies disdainfully.

“Don’t call him ‘Mosely boy!’” Anja snaps at him. “That’s really rude.”

Pavia blinks, taken off guard by the jab. “And who are you supposed to be? His girlfriend?”

“Just a concerned citizen,” Anja replies dramatically.

“Don’t mind her,” I say to him, trying to defuse the situation. “We won’t be here for long.”

He frowns at me, looking suddenly suspicious. “Are you sure that you’re not here to intimidate me?”

Damn it, Anja. It looked like we were going to get out of this situation, and she has to go and run her mouth.

“Why would we do that?” I ask quickly, shooting a warning glance at Anja when Pavia isn’t looking.

He grunts with mild amusement. “You must be aware that I’m currently overseeing a civil trial involving that boy’s parents. On that subject, you would do well to not blindly believe in every tall tale you hear.”

“Well, we are hoping that you will ultimately rule in the best interests of Nova and his sister, instead of… any ulterior reasons,” I state plainly, put off by this comment.

He scoffs at me. “Of course I will. I just ask that you bear in mind that I’ve been through many things in life which you have yet to, and my perspective on these issues is much more informed.”

Anja visibly rolls her eyes at him. Thankfully, she’s able to bite her tongue.

Pavia sees the eyeroll and sighs. He turns back towards me. “You seem like a responsible young lady,” he says to me. “Make sure that these two stay out of trouble.” And on that note, he walks away, clearly having more important things to do than talk to us.

“What a fucking asshole,” Anja mutters as soon as he’s out of earshot.

“He’s certainly very… set in his ways,” I observe.

“Yeah, no kidding!” Nova agrees. “Dude thinks that he’s the final authority in damn near everything.”

“I’ll bet you $20 he has a palace!” Anja insists.

“I’m not going to take you up on that bet,” I respond. “Are we ready to enter the other world, then?”

Anja and Nova both nod decisively. I press the app, and into the purple haze we go.

* * *

...Or not. It’s clear the moment the world comes into focus that this place is a bit different.

My eyes are stabbed by the flash of a bright light. I turn and see that it’s from a huge building that is where the courthouse just was.

“Wow, looks like Mr. Clean went a little overboard,” Anja comments. Nova laughs loudly at her.

The building is in the same shape as the courthouse, but it is made entirely of a sort of limestone-esque stone that emits a very noticeable glow. The building also looks a bit fancier, with some extra frills and rafters. The landscape around it is also affected for several yards in every direction. The dark colors of the rest of the Metaverse subtly transition into the bright white texture, and the veins get smaller as they approach before seeming to turn down into the ground beneath it. 

Well, I guess it’s nice that the first “Palace” we willingly encounter actually looks like a palace, as that will make it easier to remember from here on out.

“Hey, wait a sec!” Anja says, looking around us. “We’re further away from the place than before!”

Come to think of it, she’s right. We had our little chat with the big man on the sidewalk in front, but now it looks like we’ve been moved back to where the other side of the street would be.

“Well, it makes sense that it would teleport us to wherever the very front is,” Nova offers. “If we just popped up right in the middle, that’d be too easy, now would it?”

“That doesn’t add up though,” Anja says, frowning. “Back at the school, we ended up in the middle of the tentacle rape jungle the moment we entered.”

“That is strange,” I admit. “I guess different Palaces have different rules.”

“I guess,” Anja says, shrugging. “Well, this is a palace alright, if Lucy is to be believed. It’s  _ gotta _ belong to Pavia.”

“Yes, you’re probably right,” I concede. “I can’t think of any other major, problematic figures it could be.”

“So… are we gonna go in?” Nova questions.

“Not today,” I respond. “I’d like to have Ted with us when we do enter. And if I’m not home soon, my parents are going to be worried.”

“Remember guys, we can’t fuck around with this too much,” Nova urges. “He’s supposed to make his decision on Thursday!”

“Fine then. Let us plan to meet here tomorrow after marching band.”

“Man, we’re gonna be so tired already after practice!” Anja complains. “Oh well, I guess we don’t really have another choice at this point.”

With that settled, we return to the normal world. With today’s events confirming the existence of a palace, we prepare to infiltrate it tomorrow. After hearing Nova’s account of the man, as well as Anja’s assessment of his record, and of course meeting the man in the flesh, I can certainly believe that there is some fault in his judicial decision making. It’s not entirely clear what it is yet, but perhaps it will become clear once we traverse his palace.

Given the examples Lucy gave of distorted desires, I expected our first job to be a little more dramatic. But I suppose even a minor elected official such as Pavia has the potential to cause a lot of harm in many people’s lives. They say that anyone can be a hero, no matter how unremarkable they seem; but I suppose the same is true for villains as well.


	13. Fall Away (September 2 Part 1)

<Zoe>

Ashley’s mom once again picks me up after marching band so that we can do our saxophone lesson. What’s mysterious is that Ashley herself is not with us; she went off with Anja and Nova. She told me that she’d be home after my lesson to hang out, but I’m really curious about what they’re doing. Could this have something to do with their plans to persuade that Justice? Ashley never really explained what exactly they were trying to do…

“How are you doing today?” Ashley’s mom asks cordially.

I got lost in thought again… “Huh? Oh, uh, I’m doing well,” I respond.

“You seem like you’re lost in thought about something. Do you want to talk about it? Having worries cloud your mind will make it harder to focus during the lesson.”

“Oh, I was just wondering what Ashley’s up to.”

She chuckles. “Don’t worry about her. She’s just working on a project with a couple of classmates, she should be home soon. But I must say, you had that worried look on your face back at church the other day too. Is there something  _ else _ on your mind?”

I bite my lip, starting to feel nervous. I don’t know if I want to get into this with her. I already know what my mom’s reaction to my worries was. Will hers be the same?

“So there  _ is _ something?” she inquires, clearly able to accurately read my body language.

“Um… yes,” I admit, having no other choice at this point. “I have a… friend. My other friends don’t want me to hang out with her. But I feel kind of bad for her. I don’t want her to be lonely.”

“Why don’t they want you to hang out with this friend?” she asks.

“Um… it’s… hard to explain.”

“Did your friend do something wrong?”

“They… think she did something wrong, yes.”

She thinks about this for a brief moment. “But do  _ you _ think she did something wrong?”

I think about this, turning my head to the window and watching the stores in the shopping district fly by. Come to think of it, I don’t even know if the rumors about Anja are true. But strangely, that seems to be besides the point. My friends believe it to be true, and also consider it to be grounds for ending the friendship…

“I don’t know,” I admit, turning red in the face.

“Hmm… well, I’m sorry if I’m overstepping my boundaries. If you’d rather not talk about it, I understand.”

Surprisingly, I feel slightly panicked at this. I find that I don’t want the conversation to end.

“Wait… I do want to know what you think. Should I stay friends with someone even if they’re… different? Or should I… look after myself?” I ask, remembering my mother’s advice.

“’Different,’ you say?” Ms. Davis responds. I nod timidly.

For a while, she doesn’t say anything. Her eyes seem to lose focus, and I swear that she starts driving a little slower. Then, she asks me, “Do you know who Billy Strayhorn is?”

I think about this. “Um… I think I’ve seen his name on my music in jazz band before.”

She grins. “I’d be surprised if you hadn’t. He’s one of the most famous jazz composers of all time. He worked closely alongside Duke Ellington.”

“Oh!”

There’s another pause. Then, she says, “Strayhorn was openly gay.”

This surprises me so much that I tense up. “He was?”

“Yep. And this was way back in the day, before I was born. I don’t even think Stonewall had happened yet.”

I don’t know what that is, but she continues on before I can ask.

“The others in the Ellington band knew that. They didn’t care, they all loved him. He passed away in… 1967. Of cancer. The band was devastated. They dedicated an album to him afterwards.”

There’s a little more silence. I really don’t know what to add to this, so I simply let her finish the story.

“While in the hospital, he wrote one final song- ‘Blood Count.’ The Ellington band played it on their tribute album. In the middle, there’s an alto saxophone solo- I believe it was played by Johnny Hodges. They say that partway through the solo, you can hear the exact moment that he breaks down in sadness over what happened. You can hear it in his sound…”

She trails off yet again. I look at her, and I’m surprised to see that her eyes are wet. 

“Ms. Davis? Is everything okay?”

“Oh- yeah. Sorry about that. I need to focus on the road…”

At this point, we’ve reached the neighborhood where Ashley lives, meaning that we only have a few more minutes before we arrive at the house.

“Zoe… thanks for being such a good friend to Ashley over the years,” Ms. Davis comments, breaking the silence.

“Oh… well…”

“Ever since we moved here, she hasn’t been quite the same,” she continues, indifferent to my lack of a response. “Her grades are as great as ever, but she seems to have such trouble making new friends nowadays. And she’s so secretive… she hardly tells me or her father anything. I had a feeling something like this was happening…”

The last part confuses me. “Wait… something like what?” I question.

She suddenly perks up slightly, as if she had just exited a daze. “What… oh, never mind me. I was just thinking out loud. Alright, looks like we’re about here…”

The lesson itself goes mostly as normal, but for some reason I have trouble getting that story out of my head. Was she trying to tell me something? If so, it was very cryptic… 

* * *

<Ashley>

Once again, my vision comes back into focus to behold the large, glowing courthouse building. As Lucy suggested, I have gathered four Persona users together to conquer my first “palace.” Well, I guess technically Nova doesn’t have his Persona yet. But given the emotional baggage this place will likely carry for him, it’s only a matter of time. Lucy  _ did _ say that unlocking your Persona requires “facing your fears,” after all.

“Hey Ashley,” Anja says, “Do you, uh, think that we’re going to be home in time for dinner? This place looks pretty damn large.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I respond. “Time doesn’t really pass normally here, so we can take as much time as we need.”

“Hmm… the boy doesn’t have his Persona yet,” Ted comments from behind us. For some reason, the sound of his voice causes both Anja and Nova to jump a foot in the air.

“Whoah… that spooked me!” Anja complains.

“Why? You both have met Ted already!” I question.

“Yeah, well, we’re still not quite  _ used _ to him yet,” Nova says in his defense. “I mean, come on,  _ that _ voice coming out of a little armadillo? Still… he’s kinda got a point. All three of you have those Personas already, and I have nothing. It feels kind of stupid walking around in a tee shirt while you two are all fancy.”

“Don’t you worry, I’m sure you’ll be getting your own soon,” I assure him.

“Are you implying that you’d like to wear my dress?” Anja teases.

“If I did, you wouldn’t have anything to wear!”

“Eh. I can just go naked.”

“And have no protection against whatever monsters we meet?” I question her.

“It’s not like a dress is much protection anyway.”

I sigh at her. “Anja, remember, we’re in a metacognitive world here. I think it’s safe to assume that our outfits don’t directly provide us with material protection like they would in the real world.”

“Ashley, I literally don’t have a clue what you just said.”

“Forget it. Just keep your clothes on.”

Anja sighs back dramatically. “I’ll try.”

Having had enough chit chat for the time being, I begin walking towards the entrance of the building. After a pause, I can hear the others follow suit.

The closer we get to the building, it somehow feels like we’re not walking towards it at all. It feels like we’re standing in the same place, and the Palace is just growing ever larger, hovering over us like a ghost. After what feels like an hour, though it should’ve only been only about a minute, we arrive at the entrance.

“Everyone got a hold of their panties?’ I ask the group at large.

“I don’t wear those,” Nova responds. “I’m a boxers guy.” Without further ado, he shoves the front door open, and I follow him in.

As it turns out, the Palace is bigger on the inside. We enter a magnificent chamber, which has no other entrances or exits as far as I can see. It’s about fifty feet tall, twenty feet wide, and stretches so far that I can’t see the other end directly in front of us (assuming that there even is one.) The floor is lined with white bricks covered by a red carpet that leads straight forward. The walls are adorned with matching red drapes and various golden vases sitting on wooden shelves. In between each shelf is a marble statue of something that resembles an angel. What’s unusual about them is that they all have their mouths wide open, as though screaming. The effect is quite unsettling. (Although it also makes me wonder if my Persona being an angel will give me some type of home advantage.) The ceiling is slanted glass, beyond which is a bright sunny day covered by endless fluffy clouds.

“Well… dude sure knows how to decorate,” Anja comments uneasily. Nova is squinting, carefully scanning the room. 

“Looks like there’s no way to go but forward,” I say. “At least there are no enemies around.”

Suddenly, I realize something. “Hey, wait a sec. Where’s Ted? I thought he was right behind us.”

“Uh-oh, did we leave him behind?” Anja asks, looking around her feet.

I turn back towards the door and try to open it again, but it won’t budge.

“Um… fuck. Stand back,” I tell the others. I slash at the door several times with my sword. It doesn’t even leave a scratch.

“I don’t think the Palace wants us to leave,” Nova comments somewhat ominously.

“Well… I hope the little guy’s okay,” Anja says. 

“It seems we have no choice but to soldier on and meet up with him later,” I say. And so we begin walking down the red carpet. 

This room seriously is ridiculously big. We keep on walking, but there’s no end. Is this a trap? Is there any way out at all?

Despite my words, I can’t help but to wonder what the hell happened to Ted. I find it very hard to believe that we just accidentally closed the door on him. It seems as if the palace, for whatever reason, has whisked him away from us. But why would it? Thinking about this is getting me nowhere… I just keep going in circles.

I guess the real problem is that being in here without Ted makes me feel strange. Anja and Nova may not respect him yet, but I can’t help but to do so. After all, he’s the one who saved my life, when he didn’t have to. He was supposed to be my guide through all this Metaverse stuff. I feel abandoned for some reason…

Why should I, though? After all, I’m used to doing things by myself. So why is it that I feel so vulnerable… so helpless… urgh, there’s something weird about this room. I feel like my brain is addled or something.

“Hey guys,” I say, “Can we take a quick break? My legs are getting a bit sore.”

No response.

I turn around. Both Anja and Nova are gone too. What the fuck?

“Hey guys! What the hell?” I shout. I start jogging backwards. Did something happen to them? How did I not notice?

After a while, I see Anja curled up on the floor.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” I demand of her.

She looks up at me with an odd, blank look on her face. “I’m sitting, Ashley. Don’t you have eyes?”

“Why aren’t you walking? We have a mission to accomplish here!”

Anja laughs at this, her face splitting into a wide smile. It’s not like her usual playful smirk; it looks very uncanny on her face. “Ashley, I’m gonna be honest with you. I don’t fucking care.”

I feel my temper rising at her. “What do you mean you don’t care? May I remind you that this was  _ your _ idea?”

“You took me waaay too seriously,  _ Ash _ .” She responds bitingly. “You think I seriously wanted to come here and be some hero? Sounds like a pretty dead meme to me.”

There’s something seriously wrong with her. All of Anja’s body language and vocal inflections show nothing but utter apathy and contempt towards me. Given that Anja is normally enthusiastic to the point of annoyance, it’s very jarring. And also infuriating.

“It’s not a  _ dead meme. _ What the hell is that even supposed to mean? You came here to help Nova. Your friend. Stop being an ass and let’s get going.”

“Ashley, I’m gonna tell you a little secret,” Anja says, leaning back as if she’s getting ready to take a nap. “I really, from the bottom of my heart, don’t care. I’m well aware of how useless it is to try and change the way things are.”

“What? That’s ridiculous. After all the time you spent bitching about corporate money and corruption and stuff? You’re telling me now that you don’t care about any of that?”

“Righteous anger is a hell of a drug, Ashley,” Anja explains. “I thought that you of all people would understand that. And if you actually fix the problem, there’s nothing to really be angry at anymore, now is there?”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing from you!” I yell, losing my temper. “Well, if that’s how you feel, maybe there really  _ is _ a career in politics in your future. But I came here to do a job, and I’m gonna fucking do it. I don’t need your shitty attitude anyway.”

“Whatever, Ashley,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Go be a big fucking hero. I’m sure it’s what God wants you to do or whatever…”

Having had enough of her, I give her a good kick in the stomach, and then I storm off, ignoring her outraged cry of “OWW! ASHLEY, YOU FUCKING CUNT! THAT HURT!”

Okay, I guess I’m doing this without them then. Fine. Whatever. It’s just the story of my life. You think that they’re on your side, and then they just leave you, for no reason. I’m just stuck walking down this stupid corridor alone. Passing all of these stupid screaming statues. They’re screaming at me. Screaming at my sins.

Wait, what? That didn’t make any sense. Ugh, I’m so angry I can’t think straight.

Something strange happens to me as I continue walking. My anger seems to sap away. My vision goes blurry. Something else wells up within me like a geyser. It’s an overwhelming feeling of pain and, for lack of a better word, brokenness. It makes me want to stop, to fall down and cry like I haven’t in years.

I try to ignore it, as that wouldn’t be very helpful towards accomplishing the mission. It seems clear beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt now that this room puts a sort of spell on the people who attempt to walk through it. So much for puzzles and monsters- I never dreamed we’d find something like this.

The feeling within me, however, becomes more and more overwhelming. I feel as if it will overpower me soon. As a last-ditch effort to avoid it, I begin sprinting as hard as I can.

However, I end up tripping and falling on my face. I find myself on the floor, not of the chamber, but of the hallway in my old house in California. How strange…

I hear my mother’s footsteps from behind me. “Ashley? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, hastily getting back on my feet.

She comes up behind me and starts stroking my hair. As always, it feels very comforting.

“I just talked to your father,” she tells me. “He said that you seemed down after you got home from school today. What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing’s going on,” I say. “I was just tired.” I pull away from her to go to my room.

“Ashley…” she says. The way she says it makes me turn around and look at her. Her eyes have so much sadness in them… I can’t stand looking at them anymore, so I turn away from her and go through the door to my room, closing it behind me.

Finally alone, I kneel down on the floor. There are five fingers on my left hand, and five fingers on my right; and together, they make ten.

Eli, eli, lema sabachthani?

Is this the path You truly meant for me?

Is there nothing left of me but my flesh?

Do I get no second chance, no healing?

Will defection breed only loneliness?

A punishment for a victimless crime?

Then my path forward from today is clear.

I will toil in my work confinement.

So nobody will see my tainted soul.

But I'm afraid that I will fall away...

* * *

I open my eyes to see a different figure in front of me. Aiko is standing over me, looking down expectantly.

“What the hell are  _ you _ doing here?” I ask her. “How dare you come into my room.”

“But you called me here, Ashley,” she replies, smiling wickedly.

“Get out,” I snarl. “You were never here in this memory. And I never want to see you ever again.”

“Stop denying me, Ashley. You can hate me all you want, but I’m the reason you are who you are today. You should thank me. I’m the one who showed you the truth.”

“Shut up…” I say, but my voice gives away that I’ve run out of fight.

“There’s only one thing to do, Ashley. You’re going to do things my way. You will give in to me at last…”

She begins walking towards the door.

“Wait! Tell me… what will become of me, then?” I ask her desperately.

She says nothing. She only gives me that twisted smile again. She walks out of the door, and I hear a click which indicates that she locked it behind her.


	14. Prosperity Gospel (September 2 Part 2)

<Ashley>

I’m lying on my back on the floor. I feel something small standing on my stomach. I open my eyes to see Ted peering over me. 

“Hey, watch where you stick your face!” I shout in surprise, sitting up and knocking him off. 

“My apologies. I did not mean anything by it.”

I get to my feet and try to take in my surroundings. I’m in some sort of hallway, but one that is different than where I was. Like in the previous chamber, the floor is covered by a red carpet, and there are paintings on the wall with solid gold frames that depict angelic beings, which are thankfully not as creepy as those damn statues. 

“Where are the other two? Anja and Nova?” Ted asks.

Anja and Nova… they… oh fuck.

I whirl around, and I see a door just like the one we entered through.

“How did I get here?” I ask him.

“Just now, you walked in through that door and collapsed onto the floor,” he explains. 

“I… did? So, how did you get in here? Where were you in the last chamber?”

“The last chamber?” he asks, frowning. “The front door led directly to this room…”

“No, it didn’t. The three of us ended up in this endless hallway… We tried to get to the end, but uh… there was something weird about that chamber. It like, made us want to quit.

I reach for the door and try to open it. It won’t budge.

“FUCK!” I shout, kicking the door in anger. “We have to get them out of there, Ted.”

“I know. It sounds like the room is cursed in some way,” Ted speculates. “We must look around for a way to deactivate the curse.”

“What makes you think we can just… turn this off?” I question him. “How were we able to get through it and not them, anyway?”

“Well, how did  _ you _ get through it?”

That’s a good question. I try to remember what happened…

“Well… I remember walking in the chamber, and feeling a little weird mentally. I turned to see if Anja and Nova were following me, and they were gone. I found Anja, but she was acting really weird. She was saying that she didn’t give a shit about our mission or anything. It was totally unlike her. I got mad, and I kept on walking by myself.”

“So you left them behind?” Ted questions me.

“Hey, shut up and let me finish. I kept walking, but I felt this sort of pull inside of me. It got stronger and stronger the longer I walked. Then I had some weird flashback to something from my childhood… except it was different… Well, we don’t really need to talk about that. It was bizarre…”

Thinking back to what just happened gives me a rather unpleasant feeling. What the hell was that chamber, anyway? I don’t want to have to go through something like that again.

At that moment, I am startled to see that someone else has joined us. It appears to be a young adult man. He has dark hair that is styled to the side and a slight amount of stubble as well as a tall and lean figure. He’s wearing a black vest that is unbuttoned to reveal a tight red undershirt, and skinny jeans. He looks sort of like someone you’d expect to see on TV, and certainly not someone you’d expect to see in a small-town courthouse. The man is slowly approaching us, his footsteps inaudible.

“Stop right there,” I command him, drawing my sword.

“Hey now babe. No need to act so cold towards me,” he says in a sultry voice, stopping and leaning against the wall casually.

“Don’t call me that. State your name and business.”

For a brief moment, I see anger flash across his face… but as soon as it appears, it’s gone, and replaced with an earnest and businesslike expression. He also stops leaning against the wall, and instead crosses his arms over his front. The lengths he is going to for the purpose of making me feel at ease are suspicious…

“Certainly. My name is Luke. I am a cognitive being of Justice Pavia’s palace.”

“A cognitive being?” I ask.

“Yes. Did your master not tell you about cognitive beings?”

I think back to our conversation with Lucy on Sunday. She did warn us against shapeshifting demons and opposing Persona users but didn’t say anything about “cognitive beings.” Could this be a trick?

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’,” Luke says. “A cognitive being is someone who may appear in a palace. They will take the appearance of someone the palace owner knows in real life. In my case, I am his real-life assistant. While I take his appearance, I am really a figment of Pavia’s imagination. I’m the version of ‘Luke’ that exists in his head…”

“Well, Pavia must not have a very high opinion of his assistant, given that his ‘cognitive version’ seems to like hitting on underage girls,” I comment.

“Oh, my apologies. You looked much older, I had no idea,” Luke assures me.

Ted clears his throat, and then comments, “For a cognitive version, you’re rather self-aware. How would a cognitive person know all of this?”

“Oh, now that’s very interesting,” Luke responds. “I’ve never seen a creature quite like yourself. Where did you come from, talking armadillo man?”

“Don’t change the subject,” I order him. “Thought we wouldn’t notice that slick little dodge, hmm?”

“Well, you’re a very sharp young lady,” he compliments. “It’s no wonder that you were able to make it through the Judgement Chamber.”

Oh yeah, that reminds me. “I have two friends who were left behind in the chamber. How do I get them out?” I ask him.

“Hmm, you have friends in there? Well, I will take you to my master. Perhaps he will be able to help. Follow me, if you will.”

He begins walking the other direction down the hallway. Curious to see where this goes, Ted and I follow him.

* * *

After a short walk, Luke leads me into a different room. It’s a courtroom, probably one which is fairly similar to the real one, except everything is made out of white marble. It almost looks  _ too  _ clean. It makes me want to splash a bunch of paint around the room or something just to throw off the perfection of it.

At the other end of the room, I see the man in charge; Pavia is sitting in a chair behind his stand. Other than him, Ted, Luke and I, the room is empty. All of the benches are vacant.

“Aha, I thought I’d see you here eventually,” Pavia says, smiling at me as Luke leads me down the center aisle.

“Is that so?” I ask.

“Yes. I had a feeling when I saw you with your friends yesterday that you were different. And I was right; you have emerged from the Judgement Chamber, and they have not.”

“Yes. Although I’m really not sure what that even means,” I admit. “I don’t really remember exactly how I got through it…”

“You were able to get through it because you’re someone who’s willing to do what needs to be done,” he explains. “You’re not weak.”

“I see,” I say, feeling a little proud despite myself. “Then what about Ted here? He didn’t have to go through the chamber at all.”

“Aye, my judgement was handed down long ago,” Ted explains. “I was judged for my sins, and now I live out my punishment.”

“…Or, alternatively,” Luke buts in, “Maybe he just doesn’t qualify for being judged by the chamber because he’s an animal. Occam’s razor.”

“Well, I am not concerned with the little creature,” Pavia says dismissively. “You got through the chamber, ginger girl. You must be here because you want to fight me, correct? Well, you passed the test. I will meet you in battle.”

“I do want to fight you,” I tell him. “But not now. I need to go get our remaining party members.”

“Please, don’t bother,” Pavia urges me. “I have no interest in weaklings such as them.”

“Yeah, but Nova’s the one who’s being fucked over by your actions, not me,” I state. “It’s only fair to give him a shot.”

Pavia sighs, looking disappointed with me. “Perhaps you getting through the chamber was just a fluke. You are clearly misguided in your view of ‘fairness…’”

“Dude, you’re the one who has a palace of distorted desires. Not me,” I point out. I walk up to the desk and put my hands on it to show that I mean business. “And admit it. You selectively favor rich people in your trials. We know all about it. What is it? Enjoy the bribe money?”

Pavia laughs at me disdainfully. “I have been in office since before you were born. And I have never once taken a bribe. If that boy stays under the care of a weak, uneducated man like that, he will never find any success in life.”

“Okay, so maybe Nova’s not exactly a straight shooter,” I admit. “But from all accounts, his father seems to genuinely love him. Whereas his mom treats him like a trophy boy that exists to make her look good. Does that mean nothing to you?”

“Love won’t get him a job,” Pavia counters. “Love won’t get him wealth, or fame, or success. Does  _ that _ mean nothing to  _ you _ ?”

For some reason, this strikes a nerve with me, and I find myself at a loss for words.

Now looking rather bored, Pavia snaps his fingers. On either side of the stand, two huge figures appear. They look like knights of some sort. Like me, they’re covered in armor, though they also have metallic heads, making them a bit more robotic. They’re over double my height; they must be about thirteen feet (note: four meters) tall.

“This girl turned out to be a disappointment,” Pavia whines to them. “Take her and her friends back to the entrance so that they’re out of my hair.”

“I see you have more cognitive people under your command,” Ted observes.

“Actually, those two are just shadows,” Luke comments smugly. “So long, Ashley and Ted.”

As the two knights lead Ted and I out of the chamber, I swear I hear a snippet of Luke and Pavia’s muttered conversation from behind me…

“Well, that was anti-climactic,” Pavia growls.

“Don’t you worry,” Luke assures him. “She’ll be back before long. Take it from my own personal experience- I know a stubborn bitch when I see one.”

* * *

The knights lead us out of the courtroom, and back into the hallway connecting the courtroom to the Judgement Chamber or whatever. 

I find myself inexplicably frustrated. How  _ did _ I get through that chamber, then? Pavia said that it meant I “need to do what needs to be done,” but then he just turned me away anyway. What did he want? I try and remember what actually happened. I remember really strongly wanting to break down and cry… I suppose being able to resist that impulse means something. But then what did that flashback mean? It was an old flashback of me rejecting my mom’s offer for support; and then I went into my room and prayed; and then Aiko was there? I can’t make heads or tails of it.

“Psst… what is our plan from here?” Ted asks in a hoarse whisper.

“I’m open to ideas if you have them,” I say.

“What troubles you, Ashley?” he asks me, evidently reading the tone of my voice.

“I’m having trouble figuring out how to explain it adequately,” I admit. “I guess it’s that… technically, what Pavia’s saying isn’t entirely wrong… like, it is nice to have a job and everything… hard work is a virtue, after all.”

“Of course,” Ted replies. “But what is the best thing for Nova?”

“Well… he should still be with his dad… money doesn’t matter so much when you’re so traumatized by the abuse you received that…”

I groan, put my hands on top of my head, and start pulling my hair in agitation. “Look, can we please talk about this later?”

“Hey! Quiet back there!” One of the knights says. His voice sounds like a typical human baritone voice, except slightly roboticized, like he was put through bad autotune. 

A little while later, we’re back at the front chamber. One of the knights puts his hand on the door and closes his eyes. The palm of his hand starts emitting a pure white glow. He leaves it there for a few seconds, and then removes it.

“Alright. I have temporarily lifted the curse of the Chamber, so that you and your friends may promptly leave,” he says to Ted and I.

“Okay, great,” I reply. “Hey Ted, you think we can take them?”

“We don’t know anything about these shadows,” Ted reasons. “I have no way of knowing.”

“Well, it’s like my mom always says. If you don’t try, the answer is always ‘no’...”

He looks apprehensive, but nods in agreement anyway. 

“That’s very funny,” the other knight says, though he says it in a flat voice. “So, you two think you can take us, huh?”

“I’m sorry, who are you supposed to be?” the first knight says. “Some teenage girl who thinks she’s Joan of Arc or something?”

“You know what, I think I’ve seen this girl before! She was on one of those Japanese cartoons!”

These two have officially annoyed me, which means it’s time for battle.

I figure it makes sense to start with a “divide and conquer” strategy, so I take the one on the left. He doesn’t seem to have any weapons, but given the size of this thing I don’t particularly want to be punched by him.

“Oh what, are you going to fight me? Ah, kids these days. There’s so many things that they don’t understand…” And without any further warning, he kicks out his foot straight at me, which I’m only narrowly able to dodge. 

This thing is surprisingly agile, so I’m going to need to keep my distance and look for a weak point. While he is still off balance from the kick, I run forward and slash the other leg, mostly to test the sword’s effectiveness. It does scratch the armor, but it doesn’t seem to be as effective as I would’ve wanted. I run out of the way in time to avoid the counter punch.

“What are you going to do with that puny thing? You can’t penetrate me!” he taunts.

This is immensely frustrating to me… Surely, I must have something up my sleeve.

He aims a big punch at me. I try to stop it with my hand, but I end up just being knocked back straight against a wall, where I fall onto the floor on my butt. 

Then, my foe begins to do something troubling. His eyes start glowing, and he speaks in a terrible voice, one which is his own layered with other, lower pitched voices: “Have a taste of your final fate!”

He claps his hands in front of him, which releases a shockwave of bright white light that shoots straight for me and… I feel absolutely nothing.

“Hmm. My final fate actually isn’t looking too bad,” I mock, jumping to my feet. I notice that some of the light has lingered around me, seemingly circling around, and this gives me an idea. Struck by inexplicable inspiration, I reach out my hand towards him, shooting the light back at him like a whip… and then I clench my fist.

This does noticeably more to help my cause than the sword did. He gives a surprised grunt and stumbles backwards. I can now see a few dents in his armor. I am pleased at this, but it also seems like my spell was a limited time offer- the light around me has entirely diminished.

In addition, it seems like I pissed him off. He starts attacking me with serious vigor. I duck and roll out of the way of a punch, then sidestep a kick, but the third time’s the charm, and I am caught in the back of the head with a punch so strong that I would’ve lost a significant number of brain cells had this been the real world. I also get knocked flat on my face, and in the shock of the blow I lose my grip on the sword and it clatters onto the floor. 

He sticks his metal foot on my back. Well, that just won’t do at all, now will it?

I push myself, and it seems like I’m able to throw him off balance purely based on the element of surprise. Without any time to think of a plan, I end up just blindly running into him like a savage and wrapping my arms around his neck from behind.

He repeatedly punches my arms, but I ignore the pain and focus on trying to tear his stupid head off. He runs backwards and slams me straight into the wall with extreme force, then steps back forward. This crushes my body so hard that I feel like a crumpled-up newspaper, and I collapse straight onto the floor yet again. 

He turns around for another attack, but then is interrupted by a huge blast of fire which sends him flying into the wall. Looks like Ted saved my ass yet again…

“You can finish him off!” Ted shouts. I look over, and he’s moving his hand towards me as if caressing the air… A warm feeling fills me, and I feel a considerable amount of my previous pain fade away.

The other knight recovers, and Ted has to divert his attention back to him. I jump to my feet and turn to face my own foe, who is also getting back on his feet.

“You can kiss my shiny metal ass!” The knight yells at me, incensed.

“I’m not much of an ass-kisser,” I explain. “I prefer to make my own way in life.”

He charges towards me, but now that I see it coming, I’m able to handily jump to the side. I pick up my sword from the floor, and furiously slash at him. Maybe now that he’s been weakened, I’ll be able to finish him off the old-fashioned way.

He aims another punch, but I sway to the left, jump into the air and stab my sword straight into his chest. I catch an existing dent just right and manage to puncture straight through. The momentum carries us straight forward, until the sword gets partially buried into the wall. The force of the collision also sends me stumbling backwards. 

Surprisingly, I see blood begin to pour from where I cut through him. He seems remarkably unperturbed by this, showing no emotion other than pouting that he lost. Shortly afterwards, he starts to fade away, evaporating into the air around him.

I turn around to see Ted dashing towards me on all fours. The other knight is nowhere to be seen, so he must have already won his side of the fight.

“Looks like I owe you a thanks… again,” I begrudgingly tell him.

“No thanks needed. I’m here for anything you need,” Ted remarks, tipping his hat to me. “Shall we go retrieve Anja and Nova?”

“Well, if the curse is off, they’re probably about to make it out of the chamber themselves anyway,” I reason. “Let’s just wait for them.”

“Alright, fair enough,” he agrees.

So wait we do. I just hope that when Anja and Nova show up, they’re both in the mood for actually being helpful…


	15. Or Does It Explode? (September 2 Part 3)

<Nova>

Something feels different. All of the memories slowly fade away, and I find myself back in the chamber in Pavia’s palace.

I don’t immediately get up, however. Even though the flashbacks are over, the voice still rings through my head. I suppose in a sense, it always does…

After a while, I hear footsteps from in front of me. I look up to see Anja, stumbling towards me like she just woke up in a hangover or something.

“Hey Nova,” she greets me. “Are you awake too?”

“I guess so,” I say. “Where did Ashley go?”

“Uh, I don’t know,” she admits. “I think she walked ahead of me, so maybe she’s further on…”

I look around, and we’re still in the same room, but in front of me I can see a door. Are we back at the entrance? I turn around and there’s another door… wait, what?

“I remember this place being a lot bigger,” Anja comments, looking around herself. “Well… I’m pretty sure that the exit is that one, that’s the direction I came from.”

“Isn’t magic a bunch of fucking bullshit?” I say, because it is.

“Yep,” she agrees. “There’s something about this room. It made me act like… someone I’m not. Or at least, someone I don’t want to be.”

“Huh.”

“Were you affected by it too?”

“Yeah, I guess so. But… it didn’t really make me act like someone else or anything. It just reminded me of who I already am.”

Anja looks at me sadly. “It seems like it really affected you. Do you need to talk about it?”

“I dunno what there is to talk about. It’s just… isn’t it all such a load of bullshit?”

“Uh… what specifically? You mean this palace, or…?”

I groan at myself. “I guess just… life. I don’t know if you’d understand…”

She shrugs. “Well, I can try. Come on, talk to me while we walk.”

I nod, and we both start walking towards the back. For a few steps, I just stew in silence, but then, I start talking.

“Anja, do you know how everyone always says to follow your dreams and make something of yourself, and all that? Well, what do you make of yourself if you don’t  _ have _ any dreams? What if your whole life is just… numbing yourself enough to bear waking up the next day?

“Well… okay, I’m probably being overly dramatic. But it’s hard not to be when you’ve not accomplished much of anything. Everyone always says I could be good in school if I just  _ tried _ … but when I do try, I still can’t seem to figure anything out. Not much point in trying, then. So whenever I’m forced to sit and reflect for a while, it seems to me like the only way to win the game is to not play.”

We arrive at the door. Before we go through it, I look at Anja to see her reaction. She seems concerned…

“Thanks for not laughing at me,” I tell her. “I know I’m not too much of a poet.”

“Hey, no problem,” she says. “I’m not too much of a poet either. Nova, do you remember our conversation from Saturday?”

“Yeah, I do. It’s not like I  _ like _ where I’m at right now. I just… I dunno.”

“You don’t know where to start?” She offers.

“Yeah. I guess that’s it.” I breathe a sigh of relief. “Thanks for listening to me. I know it doesn’t make sense, but I kinda feel better now.”

“Take it from the daughter of a therapist,” Anja replies, smiling at me. “Sometimes just vocalizing your feelings is all you need.” Then, she gives me a hug. I’m surprised by this for a brief moment, but then I return it.

After hugging, we open the door and end up in a different corridor. Ashley is already there, leaning against a wall like she’s about to fall asleep. Surprisingly, Ted is there too.

“And where have you two been?” Anja questions.

“Oh, you know…” Ashley explains. “You guys took a while, so I took a nap… got up… fought some monsters… went to Starbucks… took the PSAT…”

“Well, I hope that you’ll  _ bedazzle  _ everyone with your scores!”

“...What?”

“Oh right. You guys are freshmen, you don’t get that joke.”

“And what about the armadillo dude?” I ask Ashley.

“Weirdly, he was here the whole time,” Ashley explains, shrugging. “For whatever reason, he’s just kind of exempt from having to go through that.”

“Speaking of ‘that’,” Anja says. “What was  _ that _ , exactly?”

“The chamber seems to have some sort of curse that makes people who walk through it want to quit,” Ashley answers. “From what I was able to gather, it’s some sort of test. It’s Pavia’s way of judging someone’s ‘worthiness’ or whatever.”

“Wait, how do you know that?” I ask her.

“I found Pavia’s shadow form a little further on, and that’s more or less what he told me,” she says.

“Oh, you found him?” I ask, getting excited. That didn’t take as long as I thought it would. “Hell yeah! It’s time to whoop some ass!”

“Yeah, I’m with you,” Anja says, nodding with me. “But first, something about this doesn’t add up. How were  _ you _ able to get through, Ashley?” She then looks down at Ted. “And what makes him exempt?”

“For Ted, it was probably his non-human status,” Ashley answers. “For me… I’m not really sure.”

“Hmm… well, it seems like the chamber makes us feel apathetic and demotivated,” Anja theorizes. “So maybe you got through because you’re the most motivated one?”

“Um… I think it affected each of us differently,” Ashley says. “I didn’t really feel demotivated, so much as…” she huffs suddenly. “Well, that’s not important. The point is, we don’t know.”

“I wouldn’t really say it made  _ me _ feel apathetic either,” I add. “It was more like a… total hopelessness.”

“Huh. I guess it was personalized to each of us, then,” Anja concludes.

“So did you free us from… whatever magic bullshit that was, then?” I ask Ashley. “How did you manage that?”

“A couple of shadows were about to kick all of us out,” she explains. “But Ted and I managed to trick them into turning off the chamber, and then we killed them.”

“Nice going!” Anja says approvingly. “Well, glad that’s over. On to the next challenge!”

* * *

After about a minute or so, we come across another door. We walk into the next room and… oh boy. This is not going to be fun.

It’s a courtroom, which is already not bringing back great memories. But there’s a twist: everything is made out of white marble (of course.)

As the four of us walk through the center aisle, we don’t see a soul, enemy or otherwise. An ominous quiet hangs over the court. As we reach the front where the judge would normally sit, Ashley turns around to face us.

“Where did that smug asshole go?” she wonders aloud. “Not even that assistant guy is here.”

“Are you sure this is where he was?” Anja questions. “It’s so quiet in here… suspiciously quiet, in fact.”

“There’s probably a boss fight coming up,” I tell her.

Ashley turns towards me, giving me this sort of condescending look that I don’t like. “A boss fight… Oh, I see,” she says. “You’re thinking about this as if it were a video game.”

“I mean, it could be one.”

Ashley shakes her head. “No, Nova. We are not inside of a video game. I can assure you of that much.”

“Sometimes I like to think that I’m the star of my own TV show,” Anja comments, grinning. “I find myself internally narrating my life…”

“You think that  _ you’re  _ the main character?” Ashley says in reply. “That’s really cute.”

“What? Why can’t I be?”

Right at that moment, we are interrupted by a  _ smack  _ that is so loud that it feels like the air is split in two. I quickly cover my ears, feeling dazed by the noise. Ashley winces, and then starts frantically looking around to find the source. Anja is so surprised that she falls over onto the ground.

“What the hell was that?” I shout at nobody in particular.

Ted points off to the side of the witness stand and says, "I do believe that the 'boss' is here."

He’s here, alright. And he looks fucking pissed off to see us.

“Ah, excellent. We were just looking for you,” Ashley says.

“Alright, battle time!” I shout. “Let me at ‘im!”

“I don’t think so!” Pavia yells back at us disdainfully. “I told you all to leave. You are not worthy of being here!”

“We’re not leaving!” Anja cries. “Get ready for a beatdown!”

Pavia just sighs heavily at us, and then snaps his fingers.

In the blink of an eye, the three of us are sitting in chairs behind the defendant’s desk, and Pavia is suddenly in the center where he normally would be during a trial, staring down at us. I try to get up, but I find myself unable to move my arms and legs…

“To tell the truth, I thought you all would be coming back. Since you’re here, I want to know something. What did you see when you walked through the Chamber?”

“Well, I saw a bunch of these creepy statues,” Anja answers. “And there was this red carpet, and…”

“I think he meant what you saw  _ in your head _ ,” Ashley interrupts.

“Oh. Well, then he should’ve specified!” Anja replies indignantly.

Pavia waves his hand. Anja keeps moving her mouth, but no sound comes out. When Anja realizes what happened, she gets visibly furious and starts making weird faces at him instead.

“I’m most interested in hearing from  _ you _ , boy,” Pavia says, shifting his gaze over to me. “Do speak up.”

I feel myself becoming enraged. “None of your business, asshat,” I spit at him.

“No need to take that tone with me,” he says patiently, but he’s smirking. “That chamber shows you nothing more and nothing less than the parts of your heart that you are trying the most desperately to bury. And we can learn a lot from those.”

“There’s no ‘we’ in this,” I respond. “You’re not learning shit.”

“You’re so vulgar,” he comments sardonically. “Trust me, boy. You don’t want to end up like that father of yours. And with the path you’re going on, you will…”

“I’ll fucking show you!” I shout at him. “I’ll show everyone.”

“Oh will you?” he comments in a bored voice. “Well, if you’re just going to disrespect me, I have better places to be. Goodbye.”

He snaps his fingers again, and a bunch of enemies spawn in front of his stand. I see three extremely tall knights in golden armor, as well as a couple of strange winged creatures that I can’t get a good look at on either side. 

“Escort them back to the chamber. And please do it properly this time…” Pavia orders the enemies, as he gets up from the desk and stomps back to the door. After he leaves, I suddenly regain the ability to move my arms and legs. Not like that helps much…

“We’re outnumbered… this isn’t good,” Ashley says. “Those golden men are like the ones I fought. They’re weak to fire and bless, but resist physical attacks.”

“Um, Ashley… that means nothing to me,” Anja says, nervously getting into a battle stance. 

And before I know it, the other three have charged off into battle. Ashley immediately uses a white light or some shit to hit one of the armored guys. Ted starts using his pistol to try and shoot down the winged ones, who on closer inspection are vaguely cat-like humans with wings coming out of their heads… freaky. This leaves the other two armored guys to gang up on Anja. She’s shooting them with all she’s got, but while the bullets are punching holes all over their armor, it’s not doing much to slow them down… this is painful to watch. 

The two knights are moving faster than it looks like they should. Anja’s trying her best to duck and dodge around them, but it’s hard when there’s two of them. Before long she’s been kicked off to the side…

I can’t stand it anymore, so I run out towards her. However, when I’m halfway there, I feel something pick me up by the collar of my shirt. I am lifted up by one of the enemies who was just attacking Anja, who brings me face to face with himself. 

“You don’t even have an awakened Persona yet,” he scolds me. “Do you have any sense at all?”

“Let me down… you fucking… bastard… bitch-ass…” But my shirt collar is pressing against my neck, and it’s suffocating me… 

“Or what, exactly? Are you going to keep swearing at me? That’s typical of children like you...”

From behind him, I see a huge blast of fire knock one of the others down and into the back of the one holding me, who shouts and tosses me in front of him as he loses his balance. I land flat on my ass right next to where Anja is laying. 

I take this opportunity to immediately roll over and look over her. She’s conscious, but her face is scrunched up in pain…

“Are you okay? I ask.

“Uh… owie… got me right in the stomach…” she says, grimacing at me.

I get to my feet and whirl around to make sure I’m not being snuck up on. I see Ashley nearby, the two winged creatures flying around her head like two extremely large angry bees. The knights are currently preoccupied with Ted, who is making use of his small size to run into between each of their legs, causing the three to stumble around in confusion.

“You just gonna stand there?” Ashley gripes at me, trying to swat them out of the air with her sword.

“What do you want me to do? Spit on them?” I argue back. “I don’t have any weapons!”

“Well, this is your moment, dude. I know you have a bad habit of procrastinating, but this is ridiculous…”

I’m so mad… I ought to show her too... I’m so angry, I feel like I could just… well, wait, that’s new.

_ Greetings, young lad _ , a manly voice says inside my head.  _ I have come to lend you my power… _

_ Oh thank god, finally, _ I think back.  _ Yes, give it to me please. _

_ Oh. Well, splendid. Right this way, then… _

* * *

I see a figure standing across from me. It’s… no way… it can’t be...

“Chris Hemsworth?” I ask. “Is that you?”

“Um… uh… I do not know of this ‘Chris Hemsworth’ fellow… I am your Persona,” he explains.

“Oh.”

“It seems that you are tired of having no say over your own life, and are finally ready to take matters into your own hands… a wise decision. You have proven yourself worthy to wield my power!”

“Cool.”

“Um… alrighty then. Carry on.”

“Okay”

* * *

I know instantly, when I begin trembling, that it must be happening… the awakening of my Persona. I feel a mask on my face, and I tear it off. It sucks, but I know I had to do that to get my fighting abilities. Then, my clothes change around me… I’m wearing a long, golden robe, and some weird thing on my head that I can’t see. But what excites me most is the huge steel hammer I’m now holding in my right hand…

In front of me, Ashley is making an unusual face at me… she’s smirking?

“I thought that all you needed was a push…” she says.


	16. Protectionism (September 2 Part 4)

<Nova>

I get a chance to test my new abilities almost immediately. Ted runs straight past me, which means that the two golden knights are following right behind him. Wait a minute, weren’t there three? What happened to the third one?

Anyways, since I have the hammer, I’m assuming that I must have some sort of electricity attack as well. Going by Pokémon logic, it should hit at least neutrally.

I raise my hammer into the air, and sure enough, it begins crackling with sparks. I bring it down, and a huge crash of lightning is brought down right on one of their heads! The one I hit is fried; he falls to the floor and dissipates into shadow.

The other one stops in his tracks and looks at me. “Ah, there it is! Quite the bombastic opening, but I hope you know how to follow it up!” 

“You bet I do!” I shout back, even though that’s kind of a lie because I don’t know what other powers I have.

He runs towards me with surprising speed, so much so that I’m caught by surprise and don’t have time to guard against a punch that hits me right smack in the face and… just kind of bounces off. Ha! I’m awesome.

“What in God’s name is this?” the knight yells, recoiling from the punch.

“It’s your doom!” I shout back. Emboldened, I run forwards, take a huge leap into the air, and club him right across the face with my hammer, which sends him staggering backwards.

As much fun as that was, when I land back on my feet I notice that it didn’t seem to do much. There’s a big dent in his helmet where I hit him, but otherwise it mostly seems to just have annoyed him. Wait, didn’t Ashley say that they resisted physical…?

Then, he starts doing something new. His eyes begin glowing, and he claps both of his hands out in front of him, which shoots a wave of whiteness at me, and it feels like I’m on fire…

* * *

<Ashley>

The few seconds I stopped to see Nova’s transformation, the winged cherubim is on me. These assholes have proved to be quite evasive. I finally managed to get rid of one of them, but now the other one is clawing all over my body, somehow always just out of my reach…

Then, with one last shove, I’m on the floor, and the thing is standing over me, staring at me with its creepy, vaguely human face.

“You know, for a heavenly being, you really are a piece of shit,” I tell it.

It raises its paw to deal a final blow, but then I hear a gunshot and the cherub shrieks in pain as blood starts pouring out of the wings attached to its head… and onto my face. Great.

I push it off and roll over onto my front. I see that the one who fired was Ted. Anja is still laying on the floor a few yards behind him.

“I never miss a shot,” he gloats, looking proud of himself.

“Thanks for the help. Can you use that healing move on Anja?”

“Not right now… I used up my magic fighting the golden ones.”

“You used it up?”

“That’s right.”

I push myself up with my arms, which is rather difficult given that they’re all bruised by my winged assaulters, and then I get to my feet. I look around and see Nova fighting the last of the knights.

“What in God’s name is this?” It shouts at him.

“It’s your doom!” Nova yells back at it, which makes me roll my eyes. He needs to work on his one-liners.

“Think we should go help him out?” I ask Ted.

“I don’t know what we can do for him. My fire attacks were very effective, but now that my magic is depleted…”

“Don’t worry, I have something up my own sleeve,” I assure him.

I turn back just in time to watch Nova get blasted in the face by one of those light attacks that the other guy tried on me. Unfortunately, it looks like Nova isn’t taking it as well as I did, so I think it’s time for me to intervene.

I run towards him and stick out my hand, just like before, and shoot a beam of light straight into him. In his weakened state, this is enough to finish him off. With no enemies left on the field, I walk over to Nova to check his status.

He’s laying on the floor, still conscious but looking dazed and utterly wiped. Upon looking more closely at his new outfit, he’s dressed in what appear to be the clothes of a king, with a golden robe and a matching gold layered headdress.

“Looks like that light attack really did a number on you,” I observe. “Anja, can you…” but then, I remember that Anja was knocked out near the beginning of the fight.

“I’m… so… tired…” Nova complains. “Finish… tomorrow…”

I turn towards Ted, who shrugs at me. “I don’t think we have another choice,” he says simply.

“Okay, fine then,” I agree begrudgingly. I carry Anja over back to where Nova is lying, and then I use the app to get us all out of there.

* * *

When we re-enter the real world, Anja immediately nearly loses her balance, as the transition between worlds put her back on her feet. I stick my hand on her shoulder to help her regain balance.

“What the… ah… oh, thanks, Ashley,” she says, seeming to realize what’s happening after a short moment. “That was weird. It was like I went from being fast asleep to suddenly being on my feet in the middle of the day.”

Nova yawns loudly, looking like he’s about to fall asleep while standing up. “Man… I need a nap,” he laments.

“Wait a minute… did you do it?” Anja asks excitedly, her eyes sparkling. “You awakened your Persona, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did,” he says sleepily. “I’m Thor… hell yeah.”

“It really takes a lot out of you, huh?” Anja questions. “I was exhausted all day after awakening mine.”

“Hmm. I guess it’s a good thing I awakened mine when it was already evening,” I remark.

“Honestly, I’m pretty tired too,” Anja admits. “Let’s all get back… AAAARGH!” While talking, she had begun walking to the car and ended up tripping over Ted and faceplanting onto the sidewalk.

“Watch where you’re stepping!” I chide her, kneeling to the ground. “Are you hurt at all?” I ask Ted.

“Not at all,” he replies. “It’ll take much more than that to break through this shell.”

“Oh my god, he can talk in this world too?” Nova asks, looking slightly horrified. “That’s really weird.”

“Of course he can talk in this world!” I tell him. “Come on. Let’s get home, I have homework.”

“Yeah, I’m okay, thank you for asking,” Anja complains, having just gotten back on her feet.

After she unlocks the car, I scoop up Ted and set him in the backseat, and then climb into the backseat on the other side. Before long, Anja has started the car. She goes to Nova’s apartment first since it’s furthest from her house.

“Well… we definitely learned a lot about his cognition from that,” I say conversationally.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Anja agrees. “Holy crap, he was such an asshole to Nova in that courtroom! I guess that’s the ‘mask off’ moment for him.”

“I want to note something from when I talked to him before, though,” I say. “I asked him if he’d ever taken bribes from his subjects, and he said that he never has.”

“Well, he could’ve been lying!” Anja argues.

“That was his literal ‘shadow self,’ Anja,” I explain. “How on earth could he be lying?”

“Uh… I dunno,” she admits. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now. Either way, he needs to be stopped. For Nova’s sake… Oh yeah. Nova, how does it feel to have your Persona? How do you feel the experience impacted you?”

She waits a little bit for a reply, and then looks over at him and laughs. “Oh… he fell asleep. Guess I’ll ask later.”

* * *

After she drops off Nova, it’s silent for a while. Then, unexpectedly, Anja says, “You’re quite the workaholic, Ashley.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I respond.

“Well, anytime I see you, you’re always focused on finishing some task. I’ve known you for several weeks now, and I feel like I barely know anything about you.”

“Well, I do like to be efficient,” I say defensively. “It’s a necessary quality to succeed in life.”

“But having your nose to the grindstone 100% of the time isn’t efficient,” she argues. “You miss out on so much that way. Leisure time is important to prevent yourself from being burned out. You can also learn a lot about yourself and the world around you when you stop and take a look around every now and then.”

“I’m sorry, why do you see it necessary to nag me about how I live my life?” I ask her, getting annoyed. “You think that I’m a robot? That I literally do nothing but work 100% of the time?”

“Well, not exactly, but…”

“How about you mind your own business?” I interrupt her. “I don’t remember asking for your opinion on my work-life balance.”

“I just can’t stop thinking about what happened back in the palace,” she explains. “How you were able to get through that chamber without us. I can’t help but to wonder if… maybe the way you think is similar to Pavia’s in some aspects.

“I’m not saying that you’re a bad person like he is,” she adds quickly, evidently reading my anger in advance. “You have a strong moral compass deep down, Ashley. I’m just saying that you’d thrive in the type of society he wants to create.”

I don’t say anything to that. I don’t know what she’s playing at…

Eventually, we arrive back at the Methodist Church. I scoop Ted back into my arms and step out of the car.

“Do you want me to drive you the rest of the way after you set him down?” Anja asks me through the window.

“No. I’ll walk home myself,” I answer.

“Okay,” she replies a little sadly. “See you tomorrow.” She drives away.

I walk Ted back over to where the trees are. “What’d she have to go after me for?” I vent to him as I walk. “Like I’m anything like that arrogant asshole.”

I set him down on the ground. He looks up at me and says, “It’s remarkable how empty that man’s palace was.”

“What? Oh yeah, I guess,” I respond, caught off guard by this random observation.

“It was only him, that assistant, and the shadows,” he continues. “Ashley… if you had a palace like that, who would be inside of it? Who do you trust in your heart?”

“Um… interesting question,” I say. “I’ll think about that for you. Be ready to finish the palace off tomorrow, okay?”

He nods vigorously, and then turns around and disappears into the trees.

* * *

All things considered, I arrive home this afternoon in poor spirits. My parents are in the living room, having a very odd conversation.

“If you were born with green eyes,” my dad is saying as I walk in, “You could, in theory, hide this fact by spending your life wearing colored contact lenses.”

“Yeah, but why should you have to?” my mom counters, surprisingly passionate about this subject. “Wouldn’t it feel dirty, just spending your whole life hiding what your true eye color is? That kind of thing can have bad effects on someone’s mind.”

“Well, that’s true. So it’d have to be worth the pain and effort of hiding it. If having green eyes is a sin against God, that would make it worth it.”

“Sure, but how can having green eyes be a sin against God, if God gave you green eyes?”

“Hmm. That’s a good point.”

“Um, Dad? Don’t you have brown eyes?” I ask, leaning against the wall behind them. “Why is this even relevant to you?”

“I technically have hazel eyes,” Dad responds, taking off his glasses and fiddling with them. “Of course, most people can’t tell the difference.”

“I didn’t see you come in, how was it with your friends?” Mom asks, turning around to face me.

Let’s see… I got mind raped, then had to fight a dude twice my height by myself, then had to listen to Anja and Nova bitch at me, then got yelled at by Pavia, then nearly got my ass kicked.

“Oh, it was great. Utterly fantastic.”

“Um… good to hear?” My mom replies uncertainly.

“Where’s Zoe at?”

“She decided to wait for you back in your room,” she explains.

“Alright. I won’t keep her waiting, then.”

I exit the living room and go back to my own. Sure enough, Zoe is there, sitting on the bed.

“There you are,” she greets, putting her phone down when she sees me. “What were you off doing with Anja?”

“Um… doing something which is gonna help Nova a lot,” I say vaguely. “It’s difficult to explain.”

Despite my very unclear answer, Zoe looks a little relieved. “I hope that things get better for him soon,” she remarks. “He has such a sad life.”

Zoe really is a remarkable person. She only really met Nova like, four days ago, and yet already seems so legitimately concerned about him. She just exudes so much warmth in everything that she does. It’s hard for me to not trust her…

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks, her head cocked slightly to the side.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, sitting down on the bed next to her. “Before we start on our work, can I make an unusual request?”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Can I give you a hug?”

She beams at me. “Yes, you can!”

And so we hug. And it feels very nice… like I don’t ever want it to end. In fact, I feel once again like I’m about to break down crying, so I pull away from her.

“Thanks,” I say.

“No problem. Um… with region jazz coming in less than two weeks, can you help me with something?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t quite understand something your mom said about the improvisation. Why is it that I’m supposed to use the blues scale… but I can also play a d natural… but only sometimes?”

And… well, I think you get the idea. From there we just do our usual practicing/homework and stuff. Next time… we’re going to make that Pavia have a change of heart whether he wants to or not.


	17. Life Will Change (September 3 Part 1)

<Zoe>

While walking to band rehearsal, I find myself getting lost in thought, as I have a tendency to do. However, my musings are interrupted by the sound of a voice behind me saying my name.

“Hey Zoe! Can I ask you something?”

I turn around, and see who it is who’s speaking to me; Mason Wallace. Mason is the best trombone player in our year, and one of the few freshmen to make Symphonic Band along with Ashley and I. I’m surprised that he’s talking to me, we do not have any particular relationship. He looks nervous about something; what’s going on?

“Hey… um…” he begins in a stutter. “How’d you like to go to Homecoming with me?”

I immediately am forced to process a complex web of different emotions.

  * The Homecoming Dance is not for another two or three weeks. Asking me now is a very odd move, given that the Dance is not yet on the forefront of the collective consciousness of the school.
  * No, no I don’t want to go with him. Like I said before, I do not have any particular friendship or anything with him, and in fact he can sometimes be kind of annoying.
  * Still, though, it’s not as if I can just tell him this. How should I explain my answer? I need to think of some excuse, quickly now…
  * Everyone is staring at both of us right now and I’m extremely embarrassed.
  * I have to use the restroom.



“Oh… welll… um… I, uh… I’malreadygoingwithsomeone.”

Why did I say that? That’s a bad lie. As I previously mentioned, the dance is still several weeks away. Who else would have already asked me?

Mason looks annoyed for a second, but then he recovers and looks at me curiously. “Oh really? Who is it?”

Uh-oh. He’s going to call my bluff.

“I, um, it’s a secret,” I say stupidly, that being all I can think of.

“It’s okay you can tell me,” Mason says slyly, moving slightly closer. “Are you hiding something?”

But then, I hear a different voice from down the hall, speaking softly, but in scathing tone that is clearly discernible: “She already said no, dipshit. Don’t you take a hint?”

I turn and am flooded with relief to see Ashley coming towards us. The students around us begin chattering at her appearance, but she pays no attention to them, and looks (as usual) as if she’s bored with the proceedings.

When Mason sees her, his expression turns into a sneer. “I’m allowed to ask someone a question, am I? Or is there a new royal proclamation against that?”

“You’re acting like an entitled little bitch, and you’re heckling her,” Ashley chastises him bluntly. Mason goes a bit red in the face, but doesn’t seem to be able to think of a comeback. Ashley lightly puts her hand on my shoulder and leads me away to the band hall.

I feel incredibly grateful for her. One of the things that I truly love about Ashley is that she’s just the kind of person who can get me out of awkward situations like that.

Still, there is one thing that troubles me. I can’t turn around and go to the restroom now, as that would make things even more awkward. So, I’m going to have to hold it throughout the whole period again.

* * *

<Ashley>

Having already cleared out all other obstacles and enemies in the palace, we arrive back in the courtroom, which has reverted to the eerie silence it had before our last battle. Since Pavia exited through the door on the right, we deduce that’s likely where he is now, and enter through it.

On the other end is something quite surprising. The door leads to what appears to be a football stadium. Other than us four, there doesn’t appear to be another soul in sight, neither on the field or in the bleachers. The door we just came out of us doesn’t seem to lead to anywhere; it is simply sitting in the middle of the grass with no sort of structure behind it. It reminds me of the doors in the movie “Monsters Inc.”

“Um… what the hell?” Nova asks.

“Well, looks like this place is not even trying to follow the laws of physics anymore,” I comment, referring to the door we just came out of.

“In all of my travels… I’ve never seen a place like this,” Ted comments, sounding strangely fearful. “Keep your wits about you, rangers.” The way he says it makes me feel a little nervous.

We walk away from the door and past one of the goal posts. Then, I hear a voice from behind me say, “Hello there!”

The four of us whirl around to see who is speaking. Near the goal post, there is an attractive woman with dark skin, wavy hair, and a fully developed figure. She is dressed casually, wearing a pair of short shorts and sleeveless tee shirt. She vaguely resembles a popular music artist I can’t remember the name of. The overall effect of her appearance is quite striking.

“Who are you supposed to be?” I ask the woman. “Pavia’s mistress?”

“Oh, I’m another one of his assistants!” she says cheerily. “My name is Sarah, and I’ll be guiding you through the final part of this palace.” Coincidentally, Sarah is also the name of the private lessons teacher who teaches me trumpet. The one I secretly have a crush on… Damn it, don’t think about that right now.

“Oh, good!” Anja says cheerily. “That means it’s almost over!”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I argue. “If you’re his assistant, why are you helping us?”

“Pavia is a big believer in fair competition!” she responds. “He is happy to face those who are proven to be worthy.”

“Well, none of us were considered worthy,” I counter. “He told us all to leave.”

Sarah starts to walk towards us. She walks in a very confident way which has a sort of hypnotic effect…

“Well, you’re getting a re-do, of sorts. He’s given you all another challenge for you to try and prove your worth.” She stops right in front of me and leans in closely. I smell a very pleasant scent that smells vaguely like a perfume that Zoe sometimes wears. “What do you say, sweetie? Wanna try it?”

“Hold on a moment!” Ted interrupts, looking suspicious. “Ashley, she is using her charm to try and sway you! Don’t fall for it!”

“What? Her charm?” I ask, momentarily not able to comprehend what he’s saying. “Oh yeah…” I look at the other two. Nova’s eyes are wide open and fixated on Sarah, specifically somewhere slightly lower than her face. Anja is not even trying to hide how enamored she is with the woman; she looks like she’s about to start drooling. I guess this confirms that rumor Zoe told me. So that means… my brain feels slow…

“Don’t worry, I’m not trying to trick you,” Sarah assures me. “Think of me as being… your servant…”

I feel a pleasurable sensation across the front of my body. This makes me embarrassed, so I quickly turn away from her. “Okay fine, we’ll do it,” I say quickly to cover up the moment.

“Splendid,” she says, beaming at me dreamily.

* * *

<Nova>

Sarah lines us up along the front sideline, each of us on a ten-yard mark.

“Man… am I the only one getting marching band practice vibes from this?” Anja comments.

“Oh God… I hope that part of the challenge isn’t doing weight transfer mountain,” I reply. 

“Come on guys… can you be serious? We’re about to start,” Ashley nags us.

“Yeah… it’s time to put on our mean faces. Get angry!” Anja shouts.

Hmm… I’m supposed to “get angry?” Well, that’s easy. I just need to think about my bitch of a mother. Or wait, I can think about Pavia. That smug son of a bitch, he thinks he’s better than us just because we’re poor. I’m gonna show him in just a minute!

“Okay… round 1 begins now!” Sarah states from behind us.

In front of me, appears one of those winged things that we fought earlier. I’m just glad that it’s not one of the knights. Those guys were tough. (And annoying little shits.)

* * *

<Anja>

The first enemy in the challenge was one of those winged assholes we fought earlier. Thankfully, I knew just the thing for them. They were quickly finished off by a well-aimed round of my… uh… what did Ashley say this was again? My… probably illegal gun.

I look to my left and see that the others have finished round 1 quickly as well. I watch Ashley dispassionately tearing the thing’s head off with her bare hands. It’s gross, but also kind of awesome. (I wouldn’t be okay with this level of violence if these were real creatures… but this is the Metaverse, so anything goes.)

“Round 2!” Sarah shouts, and in front of me spawns a fjsifjlaksdjf;lkasjfl;kadsjf;lk;j nononononono it’s a wasp it’s a giant fucking wasp I HATE them it’s the same size of one of the war wasps from metroid prime that always scared the shit out of me im feeling faint bye

* * *

<Nova>

The wasp is nothing before the power of my hammer. I turn to my left. Ashley and Ted defeated their wasps already, but Anja is straight up passed out on the ground. I guess that’s what the scream I heard was. Fuck! We’re down one.

“Round 3!” Sarah shouts. The next enemy is some sort of snake creature I haven’t seen before. 

I know I can’t afford to lose, so I wind up a huge strike, and slam it right down into the middle of the snake’s body. It leaves a pretty impressively sized crater in the ground, but… misses the snake, who moved out of the way the millisecond before my attack landed and is now wrapping around me like an anaconda. God damn it!

* * *

<Ashley>

The last enemy was a coyote, just like one of the ones who ganged up on me a few weeks ago. I was determined to not let it end like last time… and I was successful.

I look around me after I finish. Ted is still standing, but the other two seem to have failed, for they are both flopped on the turf like dead fish. How disappointing. 

“Well, congratulations you two!” Sarah says, stepping up to the field and clapping. “You two have proven yourselves strong enough to take on the boss!” 

“Of course we have,” I say. “I mean, honestly. ‘Get angry’ is actually pretty bad advice if you’re about to enter a fight. You want to stay calm and collected so that you can unleash all of your anger in one precision strike. That’s how real champions do it.”

“Hehe, well… you sure showed me. Good luck, ‘champions’.”

She begins spinning her right hand, and a sort of weird purple vortex starts forming around Ted and I. Soon enough, I begin to feel weightless… and I am teleported away from the stadium.

* * *

<Nova>

It must have been quite a while later when I came to. I slowly get up to my feet, ignoring my heavily protesting ribcage. Thirty yards away, Anja is doing the same. I run over to where she is.

“Man… I feel like the biggest pussy on the planet,” Anja tells me, rubbing her eyes. “I just saw that fucking wasp, and went out like a light… there wasn’t even a battle.”

“I made a stupid tactical error…” I admit. “Join the club.”

We both look around. Ashley and Ted are gone, but Sarah is still standing on the sideline, watching us.

“Hey! Where did the other two go?” I ask her.

“They already went ahead and started the boss fight,” Sarah explains. “But you haven’t been out for long… if you hurry, you two may be able to help finish it.”

“Lead the way, then! Let’s go rejoin our team!” Anja shouts excitedly. Sarah nods and begins jogging towards the end zone opposite to the one we entered. Anja and I follow closely behind her.

We jog past the endzone, and to a pair of large, metal doors underneath the stands.

“The boss is behind these doors. Good luck, you two.” Sarah tells us. Using some sort of telekinesis, she opens the doors, which reveals some sort of tunnel that goes down into the Earth.

“Alright, killjoys, let’s make some noise!” Anja shouts excitedly. She runs into the tunnel, but then stops in her tracks only a few steps in. “Oh… my… god.”

“Yeah, I did a good job on him, didn’t I?” Sarah says. Suddenly, her smile seems to be twisted, and she doesn’t look nearly as attractive anymore…

“N-Nova… run.” Anja says. There’s something weird about her now- she’s trembling, and her eyes are as wide as saucers.

“What? Run from what?” I ask, leaning forward to try and look and see what’s in the tunnel. However, I can’t. Anja pushes me backwards. “Just run the opposite direction! RUN!” She screams.


	18. The Red Machine (September 3 Part 2)

<Ashley>

Before I even have a chance to take in my new surroundings, I feel a searingly painful electric current run through my entire body. For a few seconds, there is only agony. Then, it stops, and I simply fall flat on my face. 

I hear footsteps close by, then some unseen thing flips me onto my back. Hovering over me now is what appears to be some person with a black mask, a helmet, and a billowing green cape that they hold in front of them like a vampire. This doesn’t look good. Where in the hell did Ted go?

The masked figure just looks over me, staring at me as though examining me closely. They’re still holding a massive gun, which I assume is what just electrocuted me a few seconds ago. In the background, I see something glowing…

After about a minute of this, the masked figure speaks in a deep, slightly robotic voice.

“Tell me the names of everyone in your party.”

“And why should I?” I retort.

“Because, you don’t want to die a painful death,” they say simply. Mask Person lifts up a boot and sets it on my shoulder.

“Well, joke’s on you. I’ve wanted to die for the past three years. Bring it.”

It’s hard to tell, but I think I might have annoyed them.

“Tell me; what is your mother’s maiden name?”

“Really? You want to access my bank account or something?”

For that, they lift their foot from me, and I get another round of electrocution. They hold this one out noticeably longer than the first time. 

“You see? I’m not someone who you can sass,” they say. “Answer my questions. Where did you acquire the pink gem in your breastplate?”

“Fuck off.”

They make to fire it again, but then a gunshot sounds, and Mask Person stumbles backwards. I glance to my right and see that it’s Ted. He must have snuck off after we were teleported here and evaded detection. 

I take this opportunity to get to my feet and draw my sword. Mask Person must’ve had a bulletproof vest on or something, because they’re not dead, though being shot definitely threw them off. Now that I’m on my feet, I also am finally able to see where we are, and…  _ We’re back at the entrance outside the Palace!  _

“Okay, now it’s my turn to ask the questions,” I say. “Why the fuck am I here? And who exactly are you supposed to be? I know that you’re not Pavia, you’re way too thin.”

“Don’t you get it? You were tricked, dumbass,” they reply tauntingly. “My master thought it would be most efficient to get the strongest members of your team out of the way first.”

“And you thought that you’d be able to easily kill us with the element of surprise, huh?” I speculate. “Well then. You’re going to take me and my trusty animal sidekick in a fair fight now. En guarde.”

I make to swing at them, but Mask Person releases some sort of electric pulse. It’s not the same attack as before; it doesn’t hurt, but it does immobilize both me and Ted in our tracks, making us stand in place like idiots.

“Actually… I have places to be right now. You are your little friends better not ever come back here. The Metaverse is our turf, and we don’t like other people messing around here. Goodbye.” 

And with that, they reach to the barrel of the electric shock gun, and put their hands on a small green gem that is embedded into the weapon. Then, they teleport away.

As soon as they’re gone, Ted and I’s paralysis is released. Even though I know it’s not going to help, I finish the sword swing, striking the ground with a loud clatter that almost jams my arm.

“God damn it!” I growl. “What a load of fucking bullshit this is!” 

I take a deep breath, release it, and then turn to Ted. “I really am a dumbass,” I admit to him. “I can’t believe I let that Sarah woman charm me into falling for that.”

“I did try to warn you,” Ted says, slightly sternly. “It seems to me as if the people in this palace aren’t who they claim to be.”

I’m not entirely sure what he means by that. But we can talk about it later, as we have more important things to do right now. “Come on. Let’s get back into the Palace and find out what happened to the other two.”

“Right behind you,” he agrees.

* * *

<Nova>

And so, I start running the opposite direction, with Anja running beside me and panting. Before we even reach the football field, however, some type of weird sludge rains down in front of us and forms a puddle in the end zone. 

“Uh… Fuck! To the left!” Anja calls out. She sprints leftward, yanking my arm along with her in the process. We got a ways around the puddle before it happens again and blocks the leftward path we were about to run through. 

“Okay… I take it back now!” She says, doing a 180 and pulling me the other way. While we’re turning around, I try to catch a brief glimpse of what we’re actually running from. There’s something emerging from that tunnel…

“Watch your step!” Anja shouts. I look in front of me and see that the sludge is spreading, so we hop over it and sprint off of the field and behind the bleachers.

We get to behind where the concessions usually would be. Anja falls down onto the ground, trying to catch her breath and twitching nervously. Now that I’m outside of the stadium, it strikes me how eerie this place is. Behind the bleachers, there is nothing- just a generic green field as far as the eye can see. It feels a lot like we used an out-of-bounds cheat code in a video game and got somewhere that we’re not supposed to see.

“Wow. Okay.” Anja finally says, after about ten seconds. “What the fuck.”

I try to see what’s going on through the gaps in the bleachers. I don’t see the… whatever it is, but I can still hear rumbling coming from the other side. 

“Why did we run away?” I ask her. “We came here to  _ fight. _ ”

“Yeah, well, the two of us aren’t going to be able to kill  _ that  _ by ourselves.”

“What even was that?” I press her. “I never saw it.”

“It was… the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know if words can do it justice…”

“And where did Ashley and Ted go?”

Then, a familiar voice sounds from right behind me; “Oh, they’ll be long gone by now.”

I jump to the side instinctively, and whirl around to find Sarah or whatever her name was giving me that weird, twisted smile again.

“What do you mean, long gone?” Anja asks, confused.

“Hey, what are you playing at?” I ask Sarah aggressively. “You said that  _ you _ made that monster? How the hell did you pull that off?”

“I most certainly did,” she answers, speaking in a cold tone of voice that she didn’t have before. “When I learned that he was being targeted, I had him reveal his monstrous shadow form. And it was weak. Too weak to fight a well-trained bunch such as yourselves.”

“Uh… we’re not really that well trained,” I admit. “I literally just got my Persona thing yesterday.”

“Oh, please. I know that Lucy wasn’t going to let you lot in blind.”

“Wait, so you know about Lucy?” Anja asks curiously.

“Of course I do. She’s been a thorn in my side for decades, after all.”

“Wait… that doesn’t make any sense!” Anja replies, drawing her weapon and pointing it at Sarah. “Who are you, actually?”

“Hmm… maybe she didn’t explain everything to you after all,” Sarah replies. “How disappointing.”

Sarah whistles very loudly, so loudly that I have to cover my ears again. Then, she teleports away, cheekily giving us a finger wave as her body fades out. 

Almost immediately, we hear the rumbling sound get closer, and then loud clanging sounds coming from the stands in front of us. Then, from above the railing, I see a large, red head poke- with a horrible frowning face- and I see spindly legs claw over towards us…

“Okay, time to move! Go go go!” Anja shouts, pushing me from behind.

“Let’s get to the Monsters Inc. door!” I shout, as I break into a run. “Then maybe we can… think about this.”

“Right behind you!”

* * *

<Ashley>

After a surprisingly long trek, we make it back to the Palace, through the first chamber, and then through the hall back into the courtroom. When we get there, however, Anja and Nova are already there, just sitting on the floor near the front. Both of them are panting like they just ran a mile.

“What are you doing back here?” I ask them.

“Well, Ashley… it turns out that the boss was in that football stadium place the whole time,” Anja explains. 

“Oh, I see. It does make sense to regroup as a party before fighting it,” I say. 

And then, without warning, the entire room starts shaking, like there’s an earthquake. Anja bolts upright, terror in her eyes. Nova hastily starts getting to his feet and says, “Oh no… did that thing follow us here?”

“Who? You mean Pavia?” I question them.

“Uh… well, sort of, but he’s been turned into this horrifying, red… thing,” Anja explains. “I don’t even know how to describe it.”

“Yeah, he’s like a Cthulhu monster,” Nova says, shuddering slightly. “Someone did something weird to him.”

I look around the room for a sign of where he would be entering, but I don’t see any cracks in the wall or anything. However, over time, the rumbling slowly seemed to become more and more distant, moving towards where I entered the room and then past the door. Then, after a while, it stops.

“Phew… that’s a relief,” Anja comments.

“Don’t you hang up your hat just yet,” Ted interjects, causing the three of us to turn to him. “He is not gone… he is waiting for us.”

“Where? You mean outside the Palace?” Nova asks, the irises in his eyes tiny with apprehension.

“No… I think he will strike when we re-enter the first chamber.”

“When? Who said anything about when?” Anja asks frantically.

“It’s not like there’s another way out,” I reason.

“Yeah, that stadium place was in the middle of nowhere,” Nova commented.

“Alright, then,” I say. “Does everyone feel relatively refreshed?” 

I get shaky nods all around. So, we begin moving back into the front chamber.

* * *

Sure enough, as soon as we step foot into the front chamber, the rumbling sound begins. I feel someone cling onto me from behind. 

“Ashley… I don’t wanna do this…” Anja says.

“Don’t be a coward,” I tell her. “We’re finishing this now.”

Then, I see it. 

Through the window on the ceiling, the scenery changes. The day turns to night. The clouds turn to blood red. An unnaturally large moon hangs in the sky. And then, two spindly spider legs smash through the ceiling, making glass rain down on us. Even inside the chamber, things change- the gold seems to lose its glimmer. Blood pours out of the mouths of all of the creepy statues. (Which, if you ask me, is kind of extra, but oh well.) But only when the monster enters the room do I really understand why Anja is acting so afraid.

It had an uneven head with a horrible, frowning face, which it sticks into the room first. If that wasn’t enough, its eyes glow bright white, with fury. It then drops down, landing on the floor in front of us on a pair of spindly back legs just like the front one. Other than its head and legs, its body seems to be mechanical. Its thorax is what looks like a huge, round generator, which is as large as my living room and arcing electricity at random. It also has two short robot arms, and two huge cannons mounted near its neck.

Okay, I admit it. I’m a little scared now. But I try not to show it. I simply draw my sword, and prepare for the fight of my life. 


	19. Envy Of The Divine (September 3 Part 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit 2/9/2021: Typo fix

<Ashley>

Immediately, a few things happen in quick succession.

The beast, upon laying eyes on us, immediately rears its head and breathes a huge amount of fire directly towards us. I watch, as if in slow motion, as it comes towards us; bizarrely, the fireball almost looks like it has a face on it; then, before it can reach us, something small and round shoots into the air, and absorbs the full force of the flame. The ball uncurls, revealing itself to be Ted, who seems to be channeling the fire with a maniacal look in his eyes.

“Scatter!” I shout, running to the side, in case Ted’s block falls through. The others follow suit.

Ted lands on the ground, seemingly unhurt, and with a yell, shoots all of the fire straight back at our foe. Unfortunately, it seems to be completely unfazed by having its own fire blasted at it. The beast simply reaches out one of its spider legs and stabs it straight through his heart.

I cannot let that stand. Thinking fast, I reason that the spindly quality of the legs makes them susceptible to attack, so I charge it with my sword drawn.

* * *

<Anja>

Ashley runs straight at the spider monster, while Nova charges up his lightning attack. He rains thunder down upon the monster’s head. No visible damage is done, but the creature releases Ted and turns its head towards us. Just the sight of that thing looking at us is almost enough to make me pee myself.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Nova shouts. “What the hell do we do? Fire doesn’t work! Lightning doesn’t work…”

“Nova… you have the powers of Thor, right?” I ask him.

“Uh, I think so.”

“Remember in The Avengers when he swung his hammer around like a helicopter propeller and flew in the air?”

However, I hear a roar, and I turn my head back towards the monster. It is now shooting more of that sludge all around the room. Which reminds me… I should probably go check on Ted.

* * *

<Ashley>

I leap forward and start swiping at its legs. As I suspected, they are easily crumpled by my sword. I keep up the assault, trying to knock it off balance.

It isn’t having any of that, however, and kicks out at me with legs that I haven’t hit yet. Somehow, I’m not affected by these attacks at all; in fact, contact with my armor just seems to hurt the legs more.

“Not today, asshole,” I say to myself, very pleased with this turn of events. However, the beast lets out a bellowing roar. Around me, I see some type of toxic fluid raining down on the room. Then, with surprising agility, the beast dashes across the room, leaving the sludge to flood towards me. It covers me up to my knees and seems to seep right through the armor, painfully assaulting my very skin.

* * *

<Nova>

Everything’s moving too quickly! What the fuck! The thing roars, Anja just kind of runs off, then the creature dashes across the room. I’m having trouble keeping track of it all.

I try to stay focused. What did Anja just say? Oh yeah. I try swinging my hammer around, and though it seems humanly impossible, soon enough it is spinning like a propeller, and I am rising into the air.

I use this flight ability to chase after the creature. After running several yards, it comes to a halt, and turns back around towards the others. It doesn’t see me landing on its back…

“NOVA!” Anja shouts from somewhere I can’t see. “GET RID OF THE CANNONS!”

I look at the cannons that are mounted near its head, and I start carefully making my way forward towards them.

* * *

<Anja>

By the time I’ve reached Ted, I noticed that Ashley is being engulfed by the sludge pool. She seems to lose her balance and fall face forward into it, which looks really bad. I see that Nova was able to get on the monster’s back, so I shout at him to take out the cannons.

Then, I get on one knee and look over Ted. He has a nasty black substance coming from the hole in his chest, and he is laying so still that he could be dead. I lay my hand on him and using my healing move, and thankfully he stirs and wakes up. He stands up and coughs up more the black stuff. “Those legs… they have a curse on them,” he says.

“We’d better keep our distance, then,” I remark. I then turn to Ashley, who has disappeared under the pool of sludge.

“Oh shit! Ashley!” I shout, running towards it.

“You must have another ability,” Ted tells me. “Maybe something that can help here?”

I stop and take a deep breath. Wait a minute… At a burst of sudden inspiration, I start turning my hands over each other, manipulating the very air. (Or… wait, is there technically air in the Metaverse?) Anyway, I’m able to create a flurry of winds that blows the sludge away towards the wall.

“Huh, I guess it’s never too late to randomly realize you have a new ability,” I remark, more to myself than anything else.

We rush over to Ashley, who’s been revealed amidst the pool. As we’re running over to her, she is starting to get to her feet, but she looks very shaky.

“Can you heal her, Ted?” I ask. “I don’t think I got much magic left after that…”

Ted does so, also seeming to give himself a pick-me-up in the process.

“Um… good job, guys,” Ashley says awkwardly. “Let’s go help Nova.”

* * *

<Nova>

I arrive at the cannon on the left, and I wail on it with my hammer. It only takes a few hits for it to come loose. The creature diverts its attention away from the others, and starts running around in circles, trying to shake me off. I stand my ground, and with another swipe of my hammer, the cannon breaks clear off. I turn to go get the cannon on the right, but then I see a huge amount of electric arcing from beneath my feet. I brace myself for pain. The electric current runs through me… but I don’t feel pain at all, actually. In fact, I feel stronger! Hell yeah! Emboldened, I run over to break the other cannon.

* * *

<Ashley>

Anja, Ted and I run to the monster just in time to watch Nova knock one of the cannons off of it. It is trying to use its robotic arms to swipe at its back, but they are too short.

“Okay, Anja… in just a moment, fire a round right into its face,” I tell her. I take a deep breath, and then I throw my light attack at it with as much force as I can. I see some cracks in its abdomen, and a few of its legs break clean apart. In between the cracks, I see inside the metal hull, to see some sort of strange spinning contraption…

Anja recognizes my cue and lets loose right into it.

Our dual assault seems to be effective. For the cherry on top, Nova makes use of this distraction to finish off its second cannon.

The creature is now bleeding all over its face, and it’s only barely still standing. It looks furious…

Its eyes light up a bright white, and then it lets out a terrible roar, more guttural than any sound it has made yet.

Then, something absolutely unbelievable happens.

We hear a loud cracking sound coming from above us. I look up to see that it’s coming from the moon in the sky, which we can still see through the broken glass on the ceiling. The moon appears to be breaking apart and cracking… like an egg…

“What the motherfucking christ?” Anja asks, terror in her voice. I share her sentiment.

The moon… breaks apart into halves, and from inside it, one of the cherubim creatures flies down. It swoops straight down at Nova, knocking him off of the beast’s back.

“Go help him!” I shout at Ted. “It has to be him…”

Ted nods in understanding and takes off towards where Nova fell.

Its eyes still white, the beast then locks eyes on us, and before we can do anything to react, it unleashes another fire attack. This time I’m sure of it; I see a miserable skull face in the flames as they shoot towards me and sear me from head to toe.

* * *

<Nova>

The thing slams me to the floor and begins scratching me all over. I tried to whack at it with my hammer, but it has my arms pinned down. I focus my energy, and bring down a lightning bolt right onto it, now knowing that I have nothing to fear from electricity in this world.

The force of the blast knocks it away from me, allowing me to get to my feet. The thing is getting back on its feet and preparing to make another leap at me…

When suddenly, a familiar gunshot rings through my ears, and the winged thing’s head explodes. I look to my side and see that Ted has come to my aid. Unexpectedly, he then proceeds to climb up my back and sit on my shoulder.

“This is your moment, Nova!” he tells me.

I turn back towards the monster. I see both Ashley and Anja lying on the floor, looking charred all over… Then, the spider creature turns towards me, the white glow fading from its eyes.

“You’re going to pay for that!” I shout at it. I run towards it and prepare to do another leap right into it.

However, the creature still has some limited mobility, and is able to move enough to meet me halfway and grab me out of the air with one if its arms. Then, it opens its mouth, and starts slowly moving closer… I understand that I’m about to become dinner.

“NO! NOT INTO THE MOUTH!” Ted shouts in my ear. He unexpectedly leaps up off of my shoulder and manages to stick a landing right on the edge of the creature’s mouth. He then unloads every round he has straight down its throat…

The creature drops me on to the floor, and its jaws close down onto Ted. He goes back inside his shell right before the impact, but the creature’s bite still has enough force to dent his shell, leaving Ted to fall uselessly back to the ground.

Then, I see something I didn’t expect. While the creature was trying to eat me, Ashley had somehow gotten to her feet and was now standing under the creature again.

“Finish this, Nova!” Ashley shouts at me. She takes a huge swipe at one of its legs, cutting it clear in half. The creature screams in agony, and it finally totally loses balance and falls to the floor, its legs useless. Ashley is crushed underneath the hull. Ouch…

Now motionless, the creature simply glares at me, and is trying to swipe me with its arms. I know what I must do.

I use the propeller technique to bring myself into the air- as far as I can go. Then, I take my hammer, and I bring it down right onto the top of its head.

The force of my hit dislodges the head. Its neck breaks apart, spewing some type of tar-like substance up like a geyser.

I jump off of its head and see that the creature is finished. Its head seems to quickly break down, and shatter into nothingness. Where the neck was, I see inside the hull. It appears to be a giant centrifuge, which is now slowing down. When it finally comes to a stop, the metal hull itself disintegrates, leaving behind a strange glass capsule, large enough to fit a person into.

* * *

I lean down to Anja. She looks terrible. Her skin is covered with black soot, and her dress is singed off in places that I’m… trying not to look at.

I lower my hand to her forehead. After a few seconds, she sleepily opens her eyes.

“Hey… Nova…”

“What is it?”

“Do you think that I’m… hot?”

“…What?”

“I mean… I was basically just cooked alive…”

“Oh yeah, that.”

She giggles at me weakly, and then pushes herself to a sitting up position and embraces me.

“We won, Anja,” I tell her. “We defeated the… whatever.”

“Yeah. I figured so. What happened to the rest of our party?”

I help her get to her feet. Several yards away, Ted lies. His shell is still crumpled, and his head and appendages are limply hanging out of it.

Anja scoops him into her arms and carries him like a baby. “He’s still alive… I hear breathing,” she says. “Poor little guy, though. I think he took more of a beating today than the rest of us put together.”

Then, we walk towards the capsule. A few feet away from it, lies Ashley. She’s managed to get herself up to a sitting position before we even get over there.

“Ashley, how did you get all of the way over here?” Anja asks her.

“I walked over here. What kind of questions is that?”

“We were both hit by the fire attack over there.”

“Well, I wasn’t quite finished yet, now was I?”

Anja pouts. “That’s not fair. How come you survived the attack, but it finished me off in one hit?”

“I only barely stayed conscious through that. I don’t know, maybe you’re weak to fire.”

“Maybe you need to get good,” I suggest.

“Oh, shut up, you!” Anja barks at me. But she’s smiling, so I think she’s not actually mad.

We gather around the capsule. As we do, a door opens in the front, releasing a bunch of white mist. In the middle of it, is Pavia, at his regular size and wearing his usual judge clothes.

“Urgh… so you came back yet again,” he says begrudgingly. “You kids never listen to what you’re told to do, do you?”

“Shut your mouth! We beat you!” I yell at him, feeling immensely pleased to finally have him at my mercy.

“It’s the truth,” Ashley agrees. “I just hope we were able to beat some sense into you, as well.”

“You’re going to let my sister and I stay with my dad, right?” I ask him threateningly.

“You… understand my decision-making process, right?” he pleads. “I loathe seeing wasted potential in a young person…”

“Well, have you heard what we’ve been trying to tell you?” I argue. “I can’t get my stuff done with my mom around. Thinking about having to sit through a temper tantrum again makes me just want to quit any time I make a minor mistake…”

“I do regret having overlooked your mother’s… character flaws,” he admits. “I thought that perhaps a sterner, tougher hand could guide you in the right direction, but perhaps I was mistaken.”

“Well, what she’s like goes beyond being ‘stern’ and ‘tough,’” Anja comments. “It’s just outright abusive, the way she treats him. You should’ve known that from his testimonies!”

“There’s another thing too,” I add. “I’ve realized that… I can’t rely on someone else to let me live my life. I’ve gotta want it. Because someday, I’m gonna be an adult, and I’ll be on my own. I won’t have my parents to buy me video games and stuff anymore.”

“Nor will you have them to pay your rent,” Ashley comments. “But you know, that’s secondary.”

“Right. So I gotta start getting ready for that now. I, uh, I don’t know exactly what I’m gonna do yet. But I’ll figure out something. I gotta.”

“We’ll be here to support you, too!” Anja says, smiling at me. “I won’t try and tell you what to do. But anything I can do to help, just ask.”

“Uh, yeah. Sounds good. Thanks,” I reply, caught off guard by this.

“Very well, then,” Pavia says. “I will… put you where you need to be to do that, then.”

“Hell yeah!” I say. That means we won for real!

“Hey, before you fade away or whatever,” Anja says hastily, “I wanna ask, like… what the fuck is with that ugly spider thing?”

“Well Anja,” Ashley starts to explain, “Don’t you remember what Lucy told us before coming in? About the palace owners taking on monstrous appearances?”

“Yes, I remember! But doesn’t this just seem… out of place to you?”

“Remember what that Sarah chick said?” I say. “She said she ‘did a good job on him’ or whatever.”

“What are you talking about?” Ashley asks, frowning at me.

“Right before she released the thing on us,” I explain. “And then she said something about his original form being too weak…”

Ashley turns towards Pavia. “What is your relationship to this Sarah woman?” she asks him.

“Hmm? Which one?” he replies, looking puzzled. “There is a Sarah that I know from church…”

“Does she have dark skin?” Ashley questions him.

“And long hair?” I add.

“And a really thick ass?” Anja says, a twinkle in her eyes.

“Uhh… no,” Pavia says, looking even more confused. “I have no idea who you’re talking about…”

“What the hell, man?” I question him. “You don’t even know who’s running around inside your own palace?”

“That’s… existentially terrifying, in a way,” Ashley muses. “And what about that cloaked figure? With the electric gun?”

“I’ve… seen no such thing,” Pavia answers, looking concerned.

“Is there anyone you know of who’s supposed to be here other than that assistant of yours?” Ashley presses.

“Assistant? I don’t have an assistant!” Pavia replies.

“I literally saw you two talking yesterday, though,” Ashley counters. “Remember Luke?”

“He’s not my assistant. He was simply… a client of mine. He warned me that you lot were coming and helped me prepare…”

“A client of yours? Why did he do this? How did he know about us?” Ashley asks, rapid-fire.

“Look, girl, we operated on a need-to-know basis!” he says, starting to get irritated. “I really don’t know much more than you do.”

“Okay, well…” Anja says, scratching her head. “I think I’m more confused now than I was when I asked the initial question…”

“Well, it looks like we’re not going to get any more useful information out of him,” Ashley laments. “Let’s just get out of here. We can think about this stuff later.”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” I agree. “The blood coming out of those statues’ mouths is about to reach our feet.”

“Ack! I forgot about that!” Anja screams, looking around and noticing it herself. “Yep, all in agreement. Let’s go.”


	20. Collar Full (September 4 Part 1)

<Zoe>

Another day, another biology class. I walk into the classroom to find my three friends seemingly in hysterics about something. Diana looks embarrassed, and Yonca and Terra are laughing a lot. Curious, I take my usual seat near them.

“Hello, Zoe!” Yonca greets me, still giggling from the last thing that was said. “Is it really true that Mason asked you to Homecoming?”

“Oh, he did,” I recall.

“And you said you’re already going with someone!” Diana jumps in, seemingly trying to get the heat off of herself. “Why didn’t you tell us, Zoe? I thought we were your friends!”

“Oh, well… I only said that so he’d leave me alone,” I admit sheepishly. “I’m not really going with anyone.”

“Oh, so you’re still gonna hide it from us?” Diana teases. “Come on, Zoe. Tell us who you’re in love with!”

“I’ve always been interested as to who the type is that you’d fancy,” Terra adds, smirking at me.

I can’t answer, but instead simply turn red and sputter a bit, feeling a surprising sense of terror the whole time.

“Oh come on, leave her alone,” Yonca chides the others. I feel very grateful for her. “Can’t you see how nervous you’re making her?”

“C’mon, we’re only teasing her,” Diana responds defensively. “Jeez, you’d think we were threatening her with a knife.”

“Well, go ahead and tell her the news,” Terra prompts.

“Oh. Well…” Diana goes back to looking embarrassed, causing the other two to giggle a little bit more. “Well, today he actually came and asked  _ me _ !”

“Isn’t that crazy?” Yonca marvels. “I guess he goes for the blondes.”

“And what did you say?” Terra prods her.

“I said… yes.”

“Wait, really?” I ask her, very surprised by this turn of events. “After everything you said about him last week?”

“Well, whether he deserves it or not, he  _ is _ in Symphonic Band,” Diana points out. “And pretty good looking.”

“Really, Diana?” Terra says, shaking her head. “So you don’t even like him, you’re just doing it for the status? I didn’t realize you were a  _ glory seeker _ .”

“I’m not!” Diana shouts, starting to look genuinely angry.

“I don’t even think he’s attractive, anyway,” Terra continues. “You must not have high standards if that’s what you care about.”

“Oh, come on!” Diana argues back. “Back me up, Zoe! Don’t you think he’s cute?”

“Oh, um… I’ve never thought about it,” I respond stupidly, taken aback by this question.

“If it’s something you need to think about, then there’s your answer,” Yonca concludes, smirking a little bit.

“All of you shut your mouths,” Diana hisses at us. “Let’s just get ready for class, I’m pretty sure he’s about to start it.”

And so that is what we do. I’ve seen enough of these types of conversations to know that Diana isn’t seriously mad; things will be back to normal by the end of the period. I could not say the same for myself, however, if they had known the truth.

After spending the past few days trying to figure out my feelings, it has become clear to me that there  _ is _ someone I’m in love with. But I can never tell the others about it… they’ll hate me for it, and I’m not entirely sure if I could blame them. Sitting with them for the rest of the class knowing that I am keeping this secret casts a shadow over me which leaves me feeling morose.

* * *

When I get to the band hall for jazz band, I almost walk straight into Ashley, who is closely examining a piece of paper that was taped to the wall near the door. She’s looking at it with a smug, satisfied expression.

“Results for our first chair test,” she explains, seeing my confused expression. “Surprise, you got first chair.”

I giggle weakly; of course, the joke is that I’m the only bassoon player. I briefly look at the sheet myself, and see that Ashley managed to get first in the horn section.

“Good job!” I tell her.

“Eh, it didn’t take much,” she replies casually, although I know her well enough to tell that she likes the attention. “Alright, we better get ready for rehearsal.”

There’s an awkward pause, as I find myself just looking at the way her hair hangs down neatly to below her shoulders, and the way that the fluorescent lights on the ceiling give it a mesmerizing glint.

She looks at me, and then does something very unexpected: she smiles at me. “You have a really cute smile, Zoe,” she tells me sweetly.

“Oh? Was I smiling?” I ask, feeling a bit embarrassed.

However, at that point, we are interrupted by someone else walking through the doors; a tall, bespectacled, trumpet-playing junior named Lionel. He comes to a stop when he sees Ashley and I are blocking the path.

“So…” he comments dryly in his nasal voice, “Are you guys going to just… stand there?”

“No, we’re not,” Ashley snaps back. “C’mon, let’s get going.”

* * *

<Anja>

Ah, marching band. Just about a hundred or so students out in the parking lot after school, in the middle of Texas, during the hottest month of the year. Completely mental, right? Yet that is where I find myself during the beginning of my sophomore year. So what drives so many people to do this masochistic activity? Well, some people…

“Anja! You’re too far back!” a voice says suddenly, snapping me out of my trance.

Ah, that was my section leader. Indeed, it looks as if I overstepped my dot by quite a lot. I guess I got so into narrating my own life that I spaced out. Time for a bathroom break, I suppose.

However, inside the bathroom, I run into Zoe. She looks nervous about something…

“Hello there, Zoe!” I say to her, waving.

“H- hi, Anja,” she stammers, looking around the bathroom apprehensively.

“Is something the matter?” I ask her because it certainly seems as if something is the matter.

For a few seconds, there is only silence, as Zoe contemplatively bites her lip. Then, she says, “...C-can we talk about something? Somewhere private?”

* * *

We both sneak away to the practice room Nova and I usually hang out in during the mornings.

Zoe does not seem to be in a great hurry to say what is on her mind. She is sitting on the ground in front of me, still biting her lip a bit, and now she is also wringing her hands.

“Okay…” she says, planting her hands on the floor. She doesn’t quite meet my eyes.

“At church last weekend,” she says, “Some of my friends said something about you and Ashley which… seemed to concern them.”

“Oh really?” I reply. “And what did they say?”

She seems to get nervous again, and this time she’s also blushing a bit.

I'm very concerned for her, but at the same time, I’d like to get back out to the parking lot sometime today. So, I start guessing what she’s trying to get at.

“Was it something bad about the two of us?” I ask.

“Well… um… I mean, it’s like… I g-guess it…”

She doesn’t seem keen to answer that. Okay, maybe that was a bad question. Let’s try something less subjective.

“So, they seemed unhappy about whatever it was?” I ask.

“Um… yes,” she says. “They said that you had… although, I have no way of knowing whether or not it’s…” She trails off again.

“What did they say I did?” I ask.

“Well… they said that a few years ago, you were… caught kissing another girl.”

I breathe out with annoyance. “Jeez, people are still spreading that around?”

“Is it true?” Zoe presses me anxiously.

“Yes it is, Zoe,” I answer bluntly. “I’m sorry if that makes you think less of me… actually, no I’m not.”

Her nervous habits have stopped by this point, and now she’s just sitting deathly still, looking at me with wide eyes. I think it’s time to start getting to the bottom of why she’s talking to me about this.

“So… what is it about this that upsets you?” I ask her.

She begins moving around again, just a little bit. “Well… um…”

“Are you upset with me?” I ask her. “Or is it your other friends who you think are in the wrong?”

This takes her a good moment, but eventually she says, “I’m not upset with you… or with anyone. I’m just… scared.”

“What are you scared of?” I ask her.

Uh-oh. This question officially sets her off, and I see tears roll down her face. Looks like we’re going to be here for a while. That’s okay, though.

I move next to her and set an arm around her shoulder. She immediately caves in and just latches onto me, crying onto my sleeve.

After a few minutes, she finds the will to speak again.

“Y-you don’t… like Ashley like that, d-do you?” she asks me.

“No, she’s not really my type,” I explain. “I prefer someone who’s more… Uh, cooperative.”

Suddenly, I get an idea. I think I may know what this is all about. “Why do you ask?” I ask her.

She detaches herself from me and looks straight at me solemnly. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot over the past few days, and I think… I do.”

“You do what?” I ask.

“I… like her.”

Ha! I knew it.

Zoe, however, has gone right back to crying on me.

“So, you’re worried that… if your friends find out that you feel that way about her, they won’t want to be your friends anymore?” I ask.

“My… friends,” she sputters in between sobs, “My family… everyone.”

Well, I wish I could tell her that she’s wrong, but I guess I can’t promise that. There’s one thing I can promise, though.

“I’ll still be your friend,” I tell her.

Her crying does ease up a little bit at this. But still…

“Are you worried about what Ashley will think?” I ask.

Zoe nods. “We’ve been friends… for so long,” she explains. She detaches herself from me and starts wiping her face on her own sleeves. “If our friendship got ruined… it’d all be my fault…”

“It wouldn’t be your fault, Zoe,” I tell her.

Her face scrunches up and goes red. “Yes… it would be.” Back to the lip biting again. “I’m the one… who had this thing…”

“You don’t get to choose who you have feelings for,” I explain to her. “Nobody gets to choose whether they like men, or women, or both, or neither, or… whatever.”

She’s just looking at me intently, so I continue.

“Some people think it’s all genetic, but it could also be partially developmental. We don’t really know yet,” I explain to her. “But what we do know, is that the way you are is not going to change. Just think of it like being left-handed!” I tell her. (This is a rather apt metaphor for me, given that I am left-handed myself. It made learning to play the trombone a pain in the ass.)

These words do not have the effect that I hoped they would. Zoe is now looking at the floor, looking crestfallen.

“What am I… gonna do then?” she asks me.

“I think you should tell Ashley how you feel,” I tell her soothingly. “Even if she doesn’t recipo… uh… even if she doesn’t feel the same back, if she’s really your friend, she’ll understand.”

She looks up at me at last, with her wide, blue eyes. “You… you really think so?”

“I really do,” I tell her.

And with that, we really need to get back on the field. I give her a minute to wipe the rest of her face off, and then help her to her feet.

Hey, I did it! I helped her with her problems. Honestly, I did such a good job, I should start charging people for this. Take a leaf out of my old man’s book.

Also, for the record, I’m like 100% sure that Ashley is also gay. I mean, come up. Just look at her. It’s so obvious. Man, I should try and find out if Nova is gay too. If he is, we’d have a full set! Score another one for the gay agenda! Mwahahaha!


	21. The Judge (September 4 Part 2)

<Ashley>

Now that we have finished with Pavia’s palace, I decide that it’s a good time to jump into the Metaverse and give Lucy a report about what went down, especially since some of that didn’t quite go like we expected. We have our first football game tomorrow, and a contest the next day, so today’s my best opportunity to get that done. 

I give her a call, and then recap everything that happened. After I’m done, there’s quiet for a little while.

“Hmm… well, first of all, you all did an excellent job. Seriously, kudos to you,” Lucy tells me. “You’ve taken down your first palace, despite facing some pretty unique challenges. I expect great things to come from you in the future, Ashley. That said… I am disturbed by some parts of your account. Let me break it down for you in chronological order.

“First of all, the opening chamber. That is a rather unique challenge for a palace to have. I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like that before. However, I have been in palaces which had the power to emotionally affect those who travelled through it, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility. As for why Ted didn’t have to go through it, your guess is as good as mine. Ted himself is kind of an exception in and of himself since I haven’t exactly met many other creatures like him. Your own ability to make it through the chamber was a stroke of good luck. Pavia seemed to only want to meet with people of a certain disposition, which you happened to match.”

This makes me frown, as it reminds me of what Anja said when she was driving me home on Tuesday. “Well, I only  _ barely _ got through it,” I defend myself. “And if I hadn’t, I have no clue how we would’ve gotten through there.”

“I just said as much. I never said it was a bad thing.”

Oh. I feel a little silly now, so I just let her continue.

“Anyways. Your meeting with this ‘Luke’ fellow is when things start to get strange. His explanation of cognitive beings is accurate; it is likely that you’ll run into a least a few of those in each palace. Honestly, I feel kind of bad that I forgot to mention it. However, they almost never pose any sort of serious threat to a Persona user. But a cognitive being really shouldn’t have that level of knowledge of how a palace works on a technical level.

“After hearing your account of ‘Sarah,’ I think I know what’s going on, and it’s very troubling. I think that both ‘Luke’ and ‘Sarah’ were the same entity; an enemy of mine who is actually named Moloch.”

“Wait, what, slow down,” I stop her. “Moloch, as in the pagan god? The one that people sacrificed their children to or something? I’m pretty sure they’re mentioned somewhere in the Old Testament.”

“Well, maybe. It’s anyone’s guess if this thing was really around back in Ancient Judea, or if this is just a random demon who appropriated the name. Either way, it’s very troubling that he already has his sights on you.”

“An honest-to-God demon, huh? So how do you know those two people were him?”

“Moloch is a shapeshifter, and since you never saw both of them in the same place, he would’ve had no problem changing forms between the two days. Moloch’s typical modus operandi when he first meets someone is to take on a very sexually attractive form to put his target at ease. After meeting you on Tuesday, he must’ve figured out that, well, men don’t do it for you. Given our past run-ins, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s made that assumption and been wrong. So he changed to an attractive female form to get your attention, and well, it worked.”

Hey, look at that, Lucy and I have something in common.

“Wait. You keep referring to Moloch as ‘he,’ but he can also take the form of a woman. Does it matter what pronouns we use?”

“He appears as a male like 90% of the time I see him, so it’s a force of habit. And come on, he’s a demon. He’s not gonna be offended if I misgender him. And given that he’s an evil bastard, I honestly don’t really care anyway.”

“Alright. That’s what I figured.”

“There are a few other suspicious aspects of the story which make it a dead giveaway that you did truly meet Moloch. First of all, his choice of the names ‘Luke’ and ‘Sarah.’ ‘Luke’ is, well, a name that I used to go by, and ‘Sarah’ is the name of one of my close allies. I highly doubt that’s a coincidence.”

Huh. So it sounds like Lucy is trans too, then.

“So why would he give that away to me?” I question.

“Probably just his way of making fun of us, honestly. Another suspicious circumstance is what happened with Pavia’s shadow form. I know from personal experience that Moloch has the ability to… beef up shadows like that. It’s never a good time when he does that…

“Finally, let’s talk about the football stadium area you all visited. Given that the stadium did not match the rest of the palace whatsoever, I’m willing to bet that it was actually in The Shadow Realm.”

“Well, that sounds ominous. So what the hell is that?”

“Hmm, how do I explain this… how good are you at math, Ashley?”

“I’m extremely good at it.”

“Okay, maybe this metaphor will help. Think of the number zero. It is neither a positive or negative number, so in a way, it is like the bridge between the two. Now imagine that the reality you’re currently living in is the number zero.”

“Okay… so are there an infinite number of realities above and below ours, then? Like the number line?”

“I don’t think so. I imagine that they probably stop at some point, I just have no idea how to determine where.”

“Fair enough. Also, what is the difference between the ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ realities, in this metaphor?”

“Uh… I have my theories, but they require a certain prerequisite knowledge of both theoretical physics and deep philosophical theology. Let’s just… not get sidetracked for now, please.”

“Aw come on, now I’m just more curious. But fine, go on.”

“Anyways, the Metaverse is like the number one. It is greater than zero, so in a way it is like the bridge between zero and two. Two, on the other hand, is The Shadow Realm.”

“Uh, okay. So you’re saying that the Metaverse is a reality that is ‘higher’ than mine.”

“Essentially. Recall when you broke the seal in your church and awakened your Persona. That stained-glass window created a portal to the Shadow Realm, which is where the shadows came from.”

“Okay. That should be easy to remember.”

“The Shadow Realm is where Moloch comes from. I think that, if he really wanted to directly change Pavia’s shadow form, he would’ve had the easiest time doing it on his own turf, so he linked the shadow world to the palace. Except it probably wasn’t fully in the Shadow Realm; it was sort of a ‘one and a half’ that had the properties of both.”

“I guess that would explain why the place was so ominously empty. I remember Nova making a comment about that.”

“Yes, perhaps. That space was most likely a sort of a floating liminal area.”

“Alright. Well, I’m not entirely sure what to make of that, if I’m honest.”

“I’m sure that this won’t be your last experience with the Shadow Realm. That said, I would urge you to avoid going in there unless I tell you to. Moloch’s power level is increased there, so it’d be an easy place for him to corner you. And you  _ don’t _ want to know what happens if he corners you.”

“Wait a minute… if he’s stronger there, why didn’t he just kill all of us in one go as soon as we stepped foot in there?”

“Well… it’s complicated. Moloch usually doesn’t directly try to kill people. He uses institutions to his advantage instead of acting directly. He likes to plant ‘seeds’ in the Shadow Realm that infect people automatically when left to their own accord. More on that later. I already knew that Moloch carries out extensive operations in Texas, and the information you’ve given me further confirms this.” 

“Why the fuck is that guy here specifically, though?”

“Well, I have no clue why he was in Pavia’s palace, if that’s what you mean. It could’ve just been very bad luck that you happened to walk in while he was there.”

“No, I mean in the state of Texas in general. Like, is it just because it’s one of the largest states by population, so there are more targets?”

“He doesn’t  _ just _ operate in Texas. I think that he is also involved somehow in activity in both coastal regions. My close ally has recently reported strange things happening on the west coast, though I still need to investigate this more thoroughly. In addition, I think I may be on the cusp of uncovering a dark secret in the northeastern US, which I’m convinced that Moloch is behind.”

“Wow, he really gets around,” I say snidely. “So does he have minions to do his bidding, too? Is that who the masked person was?”

“As far as I know, he just has the one. I usually just call her ‘The Dark Trooper.’ Yes, don’t be fooled by the voice, I’m pretty sure this person is a woman. She has been working for Moloch for about as long as I have been working against him. I don’t know much about her history. And yes, that gem you saw implanted into her gun is something like the pink one that you have. I would love to know how she got it. I suspected that she had found a fourth stone, but I have yet to see it, so I’m very glad that you reported this detail to me. Since it is green, we will name it the Emerald Stone.”

I’m trying to remember as much of this as I can, but it’s starting to get to the point where it’s beyond me. I wish I had something to take notes on.

“And finally, let’s talk about Moloch’s ‘seeds.’ Thanks to your work, I can now say without a shadow of a doubt that Moloch has planted an evil entity in the southern US. I call this entity ‘The Queen of Shadows,’ as it has taken the form of a woman the few times I’ve seen it. Her purpose is to take people in the region who have impure hearts and corrupt them to the level of being unrecognizable. The judge you fought was clearly not finished being corrupted, so it’s a good thing that you got to him when you did; you have saved your locality a lot of future trouble.”

“So, this Shadow Queen figure will corrupt anyone who already has a palace, and make them worse?” I ask, trying to wrap my head around the concept.

“It’s more like she’ll take people who are susceptible to forming palaces, and speed up the process,” she corrects. “At some point, you may want to scout your whole town and see if there are any other palaces around, other than the jungle one we discussed a while back.”

“Alright. I’ll try and get the others together to do that sometime.”

“Good. These ‘seeds’ are extremely difficult to find and destroy. And trust me, we want to destroy them; they are responsible for corrupting people that have committed many atrocities in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if some historical events, like the rise of Nazi Germany, were caused by some other supernatural entity planting a seed that got way too powerful. I have defeated a few of them in my day, but she so far has eluded me. Keep on defeating villains in the region, and eventually, you will find her.”

Once again, I would’ve appreciated a more detailed process than that, but once again, I guess I’ll take her word for it for the time being. I’m getting tired of this conversation.

“I’m going to be honest,” I admit, “I think I’m more confused now than I was before you started trying to explain everything. Are you saying that there’s been a supernatural war happening in America for decades that nobody knows about?”

“Well… it’s not really a war, it’s more like a bunch of competing espionage schemes. It’s okay if you don’t get it; I understand that this is a lot to take it. How about you sleep on it tonight, and we can talk about it later?”

“Okay, sure. Actually, that reminds me of something interesting Anja told me.” I briefly tell her the story of the ‘Thieves in the Night’ group.

“Oh… heehee. Don’t worry, I know all about the Thieves. I used to be their leader.”

“Whoa, really?”

“Yep. Those were the days. Unfortunately, what your friend told you was true; most of the other members are dead or missing. There is only one other I know of who is still alive. But given the circumstances, I think it’s crucial I protect their identity, so that’s all I’ll say on the matter.”

“Do you think that my friends and I may be hunted down as well?” I question. “It’s only fair that my friends know what risk they are taking if they involve themselves with me. And I could  _ probably _ convince my mom to let me keep a weapon of self-defense in my room…”

Lucy giggles at this. “Smart girl. But there is no need for that. The Thieves got wiped out mostly because Moloch caught us off guard; we were completely unaware of his shapeshifting abilities at the time. That will never happen again.”

“Can this Moloch enter the real world, by any chance?” I question her, not entirely convinced.

“No. If you have a Persona awakened already, he really can’t do anything to you at all except maybe make you have a bad dream, and even that would take such a great amount of effort for him that he won’t bother.”

“Okay. That is reassuring.”

“Anyways, I’ll let you process all of this crazy stuff. Keep in touch, Ashley.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Talk to you later. God bless.”

* * *

<Nova>

Oh man, I just can’t wait for this. Soon enough, everything is going to change. My dad’s being all gloomy; my sister is biting her nails; my mom is wearing a smug expression. I feel pretty smug too- I’m remembering back to when I used my lightning powers to blow those winged things out of the sky. It happened here, in this very room, yesterday. Man, isn’t life weird?

The person I’m watching the closest, however, is Pavia himself. He’s just kinda… sitting there. Looking over a bunch of notes. Kind of taking a long time. He seems… I don’t know. Uncertain, maybe?

After a while of this, he says, “Mr. Mosely… may I have a word with your two kids?”

“Um, sure,” my dad says. Kat and I walk up to him.

“Now, answer me honestly,” he says to us in a low voice. “You have been living with your father for the past few years… correct?”

“Yep,” I reply.

“Do you two feel… reasonably well cared for? Is your father a fit parent?”

“Absolutely,” my sister says, trying to push herself over the stand to make herself look taller. What a dork. “We may not have too much at our home… but dad does the best he can. We’re happy together.”

Pavia looks at me.

“Uh, what she said,” I say.

“Very well. You may be seated.”

We both sit back down where we were. Mom is getting antsy at this point. We hear a clip-clop as she walks up to the front in her high heels. (I never understood why women wear those. They look painful as hell.) She starts speaking to Pavia in a low voice. Eventually, though, they’re talking loud enough that we can hear it.

“… _ Make _ something of their lives. You can’t do this. You don’t want this on your conscience.”

“Madame, please. This is my court. Please take a seat and await my…”

“No. I cannot believe that I am being disrespected like this. You’re finished, you hear me? Oh, you laugh now, but I think that the ACLU will be very interested in knowing why you’re denying a mother the right to properly care for her children. They will certainly be notified…”

“You do that, then.”

My mother is infuriated. She begins walking back to her table, ranting as she walks. “This is the end of your career, you hear me? You have no idea what powers that you’re messing with.”

“Miss Vasquez, be real. I’ve proudly served this town for years now. Who’s going to replace me?  _ Jared Carson _ ?”

“Damn you!” My mom shouts. It seems like she’s finally lost her temper; she’s totally dropped her whole professional shtick. As she gets back to her table, she grabs it and flips it over in a rage. Then, she just grabs her briefcase and walks straight out without another word.

My dad is pretty confused by all this. “Um… Sir… Justice Sir… Uh…?”

“Hmm… it seems as if my hunch about that woman was correct. I ought to report her for contempt of court… Anyways. Go take your children home, Mr. Mosely.”

My dad’s eyes go wide like saucers. “Wait… are you serious?”

“Yes, I am. Upon further review of my notes over the case, I began to suspect that I was not taking into account all aspects of parental fitness. I have decided that you will retain custody of both children for the time being.”

“Well, that’s… great. Uh, thank you very much, Justice.”

“Wait, Dad won?” Kat said, looking positively giddy. “Awh hell yeah!”

“Excuse me young lady!” My dad interjected. “Do not use that kind of language here. Do you want the Justice to change his mind?”

Pavia apparently didn’t hear anything. “My apologies if I misjudged you at first. You had better take care of those kids. I don’t want to see you in this room again, understand?”

“Understood, sir. Absolutely, judge sir. I will do my very best,” my dad says awkwardly, getting up from his seat.

“May… may God’s blessing be upon you,” Pavia says.

“I very much appreciate that,” my dad says.

As we head for the back of the court, I nudge Kat in the ribs.

“I told you he was going to win, idiot. You didn’t believe me.”

“Oh shut up! You had no way of knowing,” Kat argued back. “Hey Dad… do you think we can go to Sonic again to celebrate?”

My dad doesn’t respond immediately. He just laughs.

And man, is it a relief to see the last of this god damn courthouse. And you know what? I feel a really good feeling. I’m not really sure exactly how I’d describe it. It’s like… I did something really good, for myself. It’s like how it feels when I win a match on Pokémon Showdown, except like, times a hundred. It’s cool.


	22. Ignition (September 5)

<Ashley>

After school that day, the band has a final, short practice out in the parking lot, and following that, we split up, eat, and then grab our uniforms. The first game is an away game at Pflugerville High School (quite a name, I know), so instead of just walking down to our stadium we all have to get onto a set of school busses.

Predictably, everyone in “the squad” made sure to sign up for the same bus, so I see Zoe is in a seat near the front right in front of Anja and Nova. The latter two are playing more video games. Not Pokémon this time, though past that I couldn’t tell you what it is. Whatever it is, it involves a lot of flying and shooting.

“Those two and their games,” I say to Zoe and I slide into the front seat next to her. “I haven’t played video games in a while, I’ve been too focused on school and band.”

“Same here,” Zoe says. “I used to play on the Wii a lot with my brothers. We loved to play Super Smash Bros.”

“I had that one for the GameCube,” I say. “Who was your favorite character?” (I ask this because I have a theory that which characters people choose in video games says a lot about their personality.)

“Kirby,” Zoe says. “What about you?”

“I found out that the best fighter is Samus,” I tell her. “Did you know Samus is actually a girl under that armor?”

“Oh yes!” Zoe says. “I can’t not know that, given how she has a tendency to strip down to a skin-tight suit…”

“She does that? Awwh, I should’ve played the Wii version,” I say.

Zoe giggles nervously again. I wonder if that joke was too dirty for her.

* * *

To tell the truth, I’ve never really been that interested in sports, so if I weren’t in band I probably wouldn’t bother showing up to the football games. Thankfully, being in the band gives me plenty to do during them.

After marching onto the fields in full uniform (a bit dramatic if you ask me,) we take our places in the stands to play some shorter pieces of music, most of which are based off of mainstream rock/pop songs, during the game. We don’t play the entire time, though, just whenever Mr. Castro says we can. There’s some sort of invisible calculus that band directors have to use to determine when the appropriate time is to play during the game.

Then, of course, there’s the halftime show, which is honestly the only part of this ordeal I was looking forward to. We play the beginning of the show we’ve been preparing for the past month now for contests. I’m glad that we have these games to act as a sort of trial run, because being out there on the football field for the first time is quite nerve wracking: in front of God and everyone, without the aid of the handy blue dots that are marked in the parking lot to help us find our spots. Given that our very first contest is tomorrow, it’s good to preliminarily get a feel for it. I think I pulled it off okay for the first time.

Then, the director has the mercy to give us most of the third quarter off, so that we can partially take off our uniforms and rest our faces. Since we aren’t playing for a bit, some people are crossing over into other sections to talk to their friends. I take this opportunity, first and foremost, to use the bathroom.

The bathroom at the stadium is terrible, which I suppose is to be expected. It’s filthy as all hell, and one of the two bathroom stalls is out of order. Nobody else is in there when I go except for Yonca, who waves at me but otherwise does not acknowledge me in any way. Which is just fine with me.

I’m a bit surprised to find Zoe standing outside when I exit the bathroom. She doesn’t make any move to go in after me, and instead just looks upon me, looking nervous about something.

“Hey Zoe,” I say to her. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” she says, before abruptly grabbing me and bringing me into a deep hug.

I’m taken by surprise, but I hug her back all of the same. I figure that the experience of playing the halftime show must have softened her up emotionally.

“Ashley,” she says, “You’ve been such a good friend to me…”

“Well, I do try,” I tell her. “I won’t deny that I have a soft spot for you.” (I dare not say more, of course.)

I was hoping that this bit of information would act as a pick-me-up, but to my surprise she begins sobbing on me.

“Hey,” I say to her gently as I remember something, “You seem to have been under a lot of stress recently. How about we step somewhere out of the way for a bit and talk?”

She nods at me, still sniffling, but if anything seems even more nervous than before. I figure that whatever’s going on, it must be weighing upon her very heavily.

We find a quiet spot behind the concession stands, in between that and the wire fence that separates us from the currently deserted main high school building.

When we get there, Zoe doesn’t seem to be in a big hurry. For a while, she just looks at the ground and sort of twitches nervously.

I am pretty well acquainted with her nervous habits, as she tends to act this way before major events which she’s worried about, like major tests or auditions. And as much as I am concerned for her in these situations, I cannot deny that there is something endearing about it all.

“Ashley,” she begins, “I really do… um… appreciate your friendship,” she tells me slowly. “It would really be…”

But she doesn’t seem to want to finish that thought, and she sort of curls up into a ball by grabbing her legs. Suddenly, I think I have a hunch as to why she’s acting like this.

“Zoe,” I begin, “You can tell me what’s going on. No matter what it is, I promise I won’t be mad.” I pause, and then add, “As long as, you know, you haven’t committed any felonies.”

She manages to weakly chuckle at this. This assurance does seem to make her feel a bit better, as she is now sniffling less frequently. And yet, I can still see terror in her eyes, like if there was a chance that an unseen sniper might take her out at any moment.

“Ashley… I…” and then she hangs on it, for a while. It’s getting to the point where it’s starting to get infuriating.

“You what?” I can’t help but to interject eagerly.

I guess this was the wrong thing to do, because she bursts into tears again.

I pull back towards me into a hug, and she returns it seemingly automatically and begins sobbing on the front of my shirt.

“It’s okay, Zoe,” I tell her soothingly. I’m not sure what compels me to do it, but I start running my fingers through her hair.

Then, unexpectedly, I hear her quickly say “Iloveyouashley.”

It takes me a few seconds before I process what she said. But then, I start to feel elated. Surely she can’t mean…

She’s looking up at me now, her eyes wide, seemingly trying to gauge my reaction to this proclamation. And all the while, I’m pressed up against her with my fingers in her hair. I have to admit, the whole scene does seem rather… romantic. The truth starts to truly sink in.

I put my hand on her cheek tenderly.

“Zoe…” I say to her, trying to think of some way to put my feelings into words.

“And I m-mean as more than friends!” she says to me fervently. She follows this up with a loud sniffle. “I just really think… you…”

This time, she doesn’t finish her sentence because I cut her off midway by leaning forward and kissing her on the lips.

* * *

Whenever we pull away, I see that Zoe looks pleased and is blushing furiously.

“Was... um… that your first kiss too?” she asks me.

“Wow, that obvious, huh?” I tease. She giggles, perhaps a little more loudly than necessary.

Suddenly, I think to turn around. Thankfully, I don’t see anyone watching us.

Zoe seems to be thinking along these same lines, because she suddenly pulls away from me, looking sheepish.

“Well, Zoe, I feel the same way,” I tell her. My phone vibrates, but I ignore it. “I have for quite some time, honestly.”

“Really?” she says, her eyes opening wide with amazement.

“Yes, and I’m very glad that you… Okay, what the hell is that?” I exclaim suddenly, as the sappy lecture I had been preparing is interrupted by my phone vibrating again.

“Oh, is your phone going off too?” she asks.

I take out my phone and see that the notifications are from Skype. I’ve apparently been added to a group chat with Zoe, Anja and Nova.

“Oh, that girl,” I say as my phone is loading the app.

The notifications were from Anja, who sent two messages to us: “Hey y’all,” and “Did you two kiss yet? -kissing emoji-”

I look up at Zoe, alarmed. “Has she been spying on us?” I ask. “How does she know?”

I’m surprised to see that Zoe is looking back at me with a smile. “Umm… no, she’s not spying. I… told her that I liked you,” she tells me.

“I didn’t think you two were close,” I tell her, surprised.

“We… weren’t,” she admits.

* * *

I have to admit, it’s a pretty great feeling, to know that, after all this time, Zoe actually feels the same way that I do. Especially with my last crush ending in such a total fiasco.

Of course, even now in my inner euphoria, I can sense problems and threats on the horizons. Zoe and I agreed to date in secret for the time being, because if what happened between us today became common knowledge… well, things could get ugly.

First of all, our classmates. I am well aware that the culture of our school is pretty fucked up. Bullies will take the slightest deviation from the norm and use it as an excuse to ostracize someone, or even downright turn them into a social pariah. Of course, I am not worried about this for myself. The aftermath of Aiko’s betrayal back in Concord forced me to get quite used to this behavior, so I am confident that I can withstand anything. But given that Zoe is caught up in this with me, it is certainly in my interest to keep our love a secret for her sake. She’s always been one of the lucky ones to escape the notice of the social hierarchy, so she’ll have never dealt with anything like that before.

Secondly, our parents. I, obviously, did not tell my parents about what happened between Aiko and I back in the day, and so I won’t be telling them about this. I suppose I don’t technically know how they would react, given that they have never indicated to me their feelings on this sort of thing. But, as a best-case scenario, I imagine that they would be under considerable pressure from their own peers to try and discipline me in some way or stop me from seeing Zoe. And as nice as they have always been towards me, I imagine Zoe’s parents to be in a similar boat.

Thirdly, on a related note, the church that Zoe and I attend. Unlike my parents, our church has made their feelings on same-sex relationships perfectly clear, and I do not see our relationship being received warmly, not while the majority of the membership seem to regard a nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage to be the equivalent of a second 9/11. (And that’s not an exaggeration, the pastor said something like that once. If that sounds like the most fucking batshit thing you’ve ever heard, join the club.) I don’t much fancy being pestered by random townsfolk every Sunday, so that’s yet another incentive to keep Zoe and I’s relationship under wraps. (I also don’t quite agree with the church’s attitude. Not just for self-interest reasons, but also on a theological and regular logical level. But now’s not the time to get into that, I’ve already been ranting for way too long.)

I try not to think about all that, at least beyond what it takes to not do something reckless in public. We go back into the stands together, and as we approach the middle where the saxes and mellos would normally sit (separated by the trumpets,) I see a tiny arm in the section behind mine that is waving frantically.

“We may as well oblige her,” I tell Zoe, “Since we’re still on break.”

Anja, the owner of the arm, is giving us a look so smug that I get a strange urge to backhand her across the face. Nova is, guess what. No really, guess. If your guess was “He’s playing his goddamn 3DS again,” you are correct!

“So,” Anja says, as we take a seat near her.

“So what?” I ask.

“How was it?” she asks, her eyes looking oddly hungry.

“How was what?” I ask, determined not to let her butt in on our business.

“Oh, come on, Ashley,” Anja replies, “I know what was going on down there.”

“Good for you,” I retort.

A few more moments pass in silence, as we just stare each other down. The silence (or relative silence, given how noisy everything is at the game), is interrupted by Nova, who suddenly looks up and asks, “What are you two doing up here?”

“Selling girl scout cookies,” I reply in what I hope is a scathingly sarcastic tone.

“You guys are in girl scouts?” Nova asks, looking genuinely interested.

“So,” Anja says dramatically, as if Nova had not interrupted the previous conversation. “Are you two officially...”

“Shut up!” I say, cutting her off. I look around to see if anyone is watching us. “We are, but don’t go around gossiping about us, it’s kind of a secret.”

“Oh really?” Anja asks. “I suppose I can’t blame you.”

“Yeah,” I reply, “But if one or both of us turns up dead on the side of the road, you have a good guess as to what happened.”

“Oh, I don’t think you’re going to turn up dead,” Anja says seriously. “Lesbians are far less likely to be victims of hate crimes than gay men. You see, the right’s fear of homosexuality is balanced out just enough by the straight man’s naughty, sexual joy of watching two women make out.”

“That’s our cue to leave,” I say, getting to my feet and taking a hold of Zoe’s arm, since otherwise I think I might  _ actually  _ hit her.

As I march us back to our rightful sections, I hear Zoe call to her, “Thanks for the help!”

Then, she turns back to me and asks, “You don’t think we’re going to be… you know…”

“Murdered? No, I was joking about that,” I assure her. “Of course, I’m not going to pretend that  _ nothing  _ bad would happen…”

On that ominous note, I am interrupted by orders to play “The Hey Song,” and so Zoe and I scuttle back to our respective spots.

* * *

The bus ride back home is a nice one. Due to the fact that by now it’s pitch black, we get away with holding hands. It’s nice.

However, at about the time we are cruising back into Enchantment City, Zoe turns to me and asks, “Ashley? Do you… think we’re doing something wrong in all of this?”

I turn to her and lock eyes. I had expected this to come up.

“No, not really,” I tell her. However, I can’t think of a way to explain myself without someone nearby overhearing what we’re talking about, so I tell her, “We’ll talk about it more later.”

She just looks back at me, still looking worried. I want so badly to embrace her, to feel her, to reassure her by any means necessary… but I don’t want to push our luck.

And it really is too bad. As we all tiredly saunter off the buses back at the school, I can’t help but to wish that I had left her on a more positive note.

Thankfully, I catch her just before she goes off to her mom’s car, so I hurriedly make a path through the percussionists, who are pushing all of the pit equipment back into the band hall.

“Want to come to my house after church on Sunday?” I ask.

She smiles at me. “That would be nice,” she says.

I can’t help myself any longer, so I pull her into one last hug before we go. She momentarily puts her sax down to hug me back.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” I whisper to her softly. “I promise.”

After we’re done, I watch her as she pulls open the door to her mom’s car, thinking that I wish I had a way of following up upon that promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on my way to believing...


	23. Dawn To Dusk (September 6 Part 1)

<Nova>

I wanna die. We just had our first football game yesterday, and now we have a contest? You gotta be freaking kidding me! I barely got a chance to sleep and they’re shoving us all back onto the bus!

I manage to catch a little more sleep on the bus trip, but I still kinda feel like crawling back into bed when the bus comes to a stop in the parking lot of some football stadium somewhere.

I turn to Anja, who sat next to me for the ride up. Her eyes are half-open.

“Good morning sunshine,” I say to her. “The Earth says fuck you.”

“Urgh,” she grunts indistinctly. “Nova? You wake?”

“Yep,” I say. “Unfortunately.”

She moans vaguely and her eyes close again. It’s kinda cute, ngl.

Ashley peeks over the back of her seat at us. “Well, one of you is awake, at any rate,” she remarks chipperly. “That’s good. Zoe is currently unresponsive.”

“How the fuck are you so awake?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “Music gets me excited,” she says simply.

There’s an awkward pause. We’re not getting off the bus just yet; Mr. Castro must be coordinating shit or something. There’s a bit of chatter on the bus, but it’s dampened considerably by everyone’s general sleepiness.

“So… did it all work out?” Ashley asks me.

“Huh? What did?” I ask stupidly.

“I mean with your parents,”

“Oh. Yeah, it did,”

“Good to hear it,” she says. She leans over the seat a little closer to me. “Now that you’ve… you know, accomplished your mission,” she begins, “It’s up to you whether you want to… continue on the path with us. What we did was part of a longer mission that Lucy gave us, which Anja and I will be continuing.”

“Oh. Right,” I respond, my brain feeling fuzzy. “Uh… I’ll think about it when it’s not 7 AM.”

“If you’d like to, I think that you’ll be useful to us,” she continues. “You were able to get a good grasp on your abilities in a pretty short span of time, and they were rather useful ones.”

“Oh. Thanks, I guess,” I reply awkwardly.

“I…” she stops herself, looking very awkward. She takes a deep breath, and then continues. “I feel as if I may have been… unnecessarily rude to you. I see now that you didn’t deserve that.”

“Oh. Uhh, okay.”

“I prematurely judged you based on your lack of commitment to school. But I see now that you have serious potential. All you need is to apply yourself.”

“Yeah, I’m thinking of doing that,” I reply, yawning. “But, you know. Shit sucks.”

“It sure does,” she replies.

“You think so?” I question her, finding this response to be odd.

She sighs and slumps over the back of the seat. “Let’s just say that I am coping with things which I like to keep quiet and leave it there. In that sense, we are alike in a way; though obviously the ways we chose to cope are opposite.”

“Well, I think it helps to talk about shit like that,” I suggest. “I mean, probably not to me, since we like just became friends. But you know. Whoever you trust the most.”

She doesn’t say anything to that. She just kinda looks off in the distance for a while.

* * *

<Anja>

If you’ve never been in a marching band contest before, there’s really no experience like it. It all started with us getting off the bus  _ far _ too early. Before long, it was time to put on uniforms, grab our instruments, and traipse across the entire Earth like three times to get to our warmup spot. By that point, it was far too hot outside to be wearing those heavy-ass uniforms. We somehow had to practice while like, three other bands were right next to us and playing as loud as they could. Impressively, we somehow did it. There’s an intensity to the whole thing that is kind of incredible. It’s like, we all walked into this as like a hundred different people, and temporarily morphed into one entity. It’s easily the closest I’ve ever been to being part of a cult.

And then, the actual performance, which I found myself surprisingly nervous for. I think I did alright, though. As much as we all complain about having to do this back-to-back with a football game, it was pretty good mental preparation for us, I think. I made a point of asking each of my friends how it went. Nova just said that he wanted to go back to bed. Zoe was really anxious about whether or not we made finals. Ashley gave me a summation of every set in the entire show in which she was like a foot off her dot, and the exact measure of every single note she fracked (though it sounds like she messed up far less than I did…) Ashley… kinda scares me sometimes.

The best part is, we actually  _ did _ make finals. Which means we have to do it all again…

In the meantime, I intend to spend all the time that I have sitting in the shade and performing my best impression of a vegetable. I am currently leaning against the tire of one of our school busses with my uniform off (except for my bibbers) and my trombone laying under the bus so that nobody will step on it. Nova is sitting with me, playing Pokémon. Ashley and Zoe are… somewhere.

“Hey Nova,” I ask. “Where do you think those two went?”

“Uh, I dunno,” he responds, sounding as tired as I feel. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Guess they snuck off somewhere,” I predict. “Probably making out… or maybe reaching second base.”

“Nah, those two? They’re probably talking about the Bible or something,” Nova counters. We both laugh at this thought.

“Yeah, true. They’re too goody-two-shoes to do that,” I observe.

“You wanna battle?” Nova asks.

“Uh… I left my 3DS on the bus,” I respond. “I would go get it, but… I don’t think I can walk right now.”

“Damn. Well, I’m getting StreetPasses. There must be someone around here I can play against.”

I put my hand up as a sun shield and look around to see if anyone has a 3DS.

“Hey, I think I see a dude playing,” I tell Nova. “Whoa, dude’s cute.”

“Really? Where is he?” Nova demands.

“Sitting right near the Claudia Taylor Johnson truck,” I explain, pointing.

“Oh damn. He is cute.”

“Yeah…”

A moment passes, and suddenly my slow brain processes what just happened. “Wait a minute, Nova. Are you…”?

“What?” he asks defensively.

A grin splits my face. What are the chances? “You’re into other guys,” I state.

“Oh. Yeah, I think so,” he says.

“Dude. That makes…  _ four of us _ .”

“Four of us what?”

“Four of us are  _ gay or bisexual _ .”

“Wait, are you?”

“Yeah! Don’t you remember when I said that the B2W2 girl is hot?”

“Oh yeah. I never thought about it.”

I chuckle slowly. “Oh, this is just too good.”

“What? Why’s that funny?” he asks defensively.

“Just because… all four of us.”

“Wait… so are you gay, or bi?” he asks me nervously.

“Bi, definitely,” I reply. “What about you?”

“Yeah, I’m… bi,” he says.

“How’d you find out?” I ask.

He blushes. “Um… I’ll tell you later.”

“Suit yourself,” I concede. If his story is anything like mine, I think I have a decent idea of why he doesn’t want to tell me while we’re in public.

* * *

<Zoe>

“Where are you leading me?” I ask Ashley, who is currently dragging me around to the other side of the stadium we performed in.

“I dunno. Just somewhere where there’s less people,” she says.

We pass by a part of the stadium which shows a huge system of air vents. The rumbling of the vents is very audible, and almost kind of sounds… harmonic, in a way.

“Wait. Stop here,” Ashley orders. I stop.

She looks at the vents and starts sort of bobbing her head around and looking at them intensely. Eventually, she sits down and closes her eyes.

“What are you doing?” I ask her.

“If you position yourself just right… the different noises from the vents sound almost like a perfect B-flat chord,” she explains.

“Oh! Cool!” I sit down right next to her. From this position, the different rumbling noises do seem to come to a certain balance.

“Wait, how do you know what specific notes those are?” I question her.

“I have something called ‘perfect pitch,’” she explains. “They say only one in two-hundred people have it naturally. It means that I can identify exact pitches without any reference.”

“Wow, that’s really cool!” I say. “I bet you get it from having such musical parents.”

“Perhaps,” she says simply.

For a few minutes, we just sit there and listen to the miraculous harmony of the stadium’s air ducts. It’s a weird moment, but it’s really nice.

“Ashley, I’ve really enjoyed being able to spend today with you… as a girlfriend,” I tell her, breaking the silence.

“I’ve enjoyed it too,” Ashley replies.

“But still… I can’t stop myself from worrying about what I asked you last night,” I confess to her.

“Well, I promise you I was joking about the whole ‘being murdered’ thing. I don’t think that’s likely to happen whatsoever.”

I giggle a little bit. “Oh no, I don’t mean that. You already said that was a joke! No, I meant about whether or not we’re doing something wrong.”

“Oh right, that. Yes, let’s address that now.” Ashley leans backwards, lays herself flat across the pavement, and then looks up at the clouds. I do the same thing parallel to her. There’s something awe-inspiring about the sight of the dusk sky. All the different shades of pink and purple… and the strange shapes that the clouds make as they pass across my vision. I try and take a moment to appreciate natural beauties like this every now and then.

“Well, I can’t claim to have ultimate divine judgement, but I can tell you what my story has been,” Ashley begins. “One summer, back in middle school, I was re-watching some old movies from my childhood. When I watched the Little Mermaid, I felt the strangest rush when I watched them kissing at the end… Then, I realized that I was imagining myself in Eric’s place, not Ariel’s as I should have been…

“All of those types of feelings began spilling out of me at once. It was quite difficult for me to puzzle out why it was happening for a while. But I’m someone who doesn’t like just blindly bumbling into things; I wanted to come with a game plan right then and there for how I would handle it. Should I try and repress or ignore these feelings, or just accept them, I wondered?

“Since there is a prevailing attitude amongst Christians that feeling same-sex attraction is inherently a bad thing, I tried the repression tactic first. It didn’t work. You see, at the time, I had fallen in love with the girl who was my best friend back when I lived in California. Her name was Aiko. Any time I thought about her in a romantic way, I tried to redirect my thoughts away from it. Well, that just made those thoughts come at me twice as hard. Then, when I went to sleep at night, she appeared in my dreams, sometimes in rather… colorful ways. It was utterly unbearable, so I eventually gave up.

“One day, I decided I’d try and tell Aiko how I felt, and so I told her one day during lunch. Her reaction was basically to run away and tell everyone in the whole school I was a lesbian. I was harshly bullied for the remainder of the year.”

“Oh no!” I respond, feeling sadness well up in me at her experience. “I’m so sorry, Ashley.”

“It wasn’t your fault. And anyway, we moved away to Texas at the end of the year, so I got a second chance. I convinced myself that the treatment I received was my punishment for being gay, and that the only option I had to keep my faith intact was essentially to live as a loner. I decided not to tell my parents about any of this, since I had no idea how they would react and figured it wasn’t worth the risk. And in general, I became far less trusting of the people around me and trained myself to not show emotion around others.

“Still, this was a pretty miserable time for me. I was in a dark place and was not sure how I was going to find the will to continue living. And then, something happened… I met you.”

I gasp. “You met me?”

“Yes. There I was on my first day of church in our new home. And you just so sweetly came up to me and introduced yourself. You showed me genuine kindness, Zoe, in a time in which I didn’t think I deserved it.”

I think back to that day as well. The truth is, it was actually my mom who asked me to introduce myself to her. I found Ashley rather… intimidating, but I decided to do it anyway because I thought she’d be lonely, having just moved to a new place from halfway across the country. It was the same reason my friends and I had reached out to Yonca when she first moved, so it made sense to me.

“I began to question my theory that being ostracized was my punishment. Then, I began to question whether the prevailing attitude on homosexuality was correct in the first place. The more I looked into it, the more that the prevailing belief on the matter started to seem dubious at best. Via the internet, I learned that sexual orientation is considered by the scientific community to be fixed and immovable, which matched with my personal experience.”

Suddenly, I remember something that makes me feel excited. “Oh yeah! Anja told me that it’s supposed to be partially genetic!”

“Oh, she did? Well, Anja’s dad is a shrink, so she’s probably a decently reliable source of information when it comes to this stuff. And that brings me into my point; if God ‘stitched us all together in our mother’s wombs,’* and therefore knowingly creates a small portion of people to be gay; then why is being gay also sinful? Is this like, a complicated form of predestination? …Probably not.

“Well, maybe people who are  _ made _ gay are supposed to just be abstinent. You know, it’s explicitly stated by Jesus that not everyone needs to have children, and in fact there are ‘natural-born eunuchs’** who are valid members of the kingdom of heaven. But then, the question is, if God meant for these people to live lives of solitude, why specifically make them gay? Why not make them all asexual/aromantic? The answer may be found in nature. There are many varieties of animals who are capable of being gay, and when this happens the purpose of these members of the species is generally to take care of orphaned babies.”

This makes me think about that strange dream I had almost a week ago, and I momentarily overflow with curiosity. “Hey Ashley. Do you think you ever want to adopt a child someday?”

“Well Zoe, since we just started dating yesterday, that’s very forward of you.”

I blush furiously as I realize how that must have come across. “Oh no! I didn’t mean like that! I just mean like… in general.”

“Relax Zoe, I’m just teasing you. And the answer is, maybe. We’ll see how I feel when I’m older.”

“Okay,” I reply. I find that I really like the idea, personally. I think about all those babies in China who get abandoned by their parents because they’re only allowed to have one kid…

“Anyways… I lost my train of thought,” Ashley says after a moment. “There’s more I could say about what’s written in the actual text; how the original meaning of the Levitical law against homosexuality uses Hebrew vocabulary that has been lost to time, and theologians actually have very varying opinions on what it was originally supposed to refer to; *** and a couple of other points, but… well, I feel like I’m probably boring you.”

“Don’t worry, you’re not boring me,” I assure her. “I find all of this really interesting, actually.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear  _ you’re _ interested in it,” Ashley replies. “But I think the average person would be bored to tears right about now after listening to all this philosophical theological mumbo jumbo…”

She briefly peeks at her phone. “Alright, I think we should start making our way back to the rest of the band,” she states. “Still, it was really good talking to you like this. Nova was right, I do strangely feel better…”

“I can’t believe I never knew any of this about you,” I tell her. “I promise that I’ll never betray you like that. I truly love you.”

She looks touched by my statement. “Thank you, Zoe,” she tells me. “It means a lot to me.” She gives me a big hug, and then we get back on our feet to get ready for finals.

* * *

<BBD>

* Psalm 139:13

** Matthew 19:12

*** This is indeed a view that some theologians have. The book  _ Unclobber _ by Colby Martin provides a decent overview of this perspective if anyone is interested in the topic.


	24. Out Of The Frying Pan… (September 6 Part 2)

<Nova>

It’s now dark outside, and we’re finally done marching for today. Finals went a little better than our first performance. Despite literally being exhausted all day, right now I’m surprisingly energetic. I guess it’s just the hype of the second performance.

Once again, Ashley and Zoe have snuck off somewhere, leaving Anja and I to chill while we wait for the cue to get on the busses.

“Jeez, those two ran off from us again?” I complain to Anja. “What a couple of bums.”

“Eh, let them. They’re in their honeymoon period right now,” Anja reasons. “Besides, I’ve had a lot of fun hanging out with just you!”

“Oh yeah. Same here.”

Something unexpected happens. Someone from our section comes up to us, a guy in our grade named Mason.

“Hey, you two,” he greets. “We’re taking a section picture behind the buses. Thought I should let you know.”

“Oh shit, really?” Anja replies. “Come on, Nova.”

“Eh, do we really have to?” I complain. “I hate getting my picture taken.”

“We should!” She springs to her feet and reaches her hand out for mine. I groan and take it.

We follow Mason to where the picture is being taken, and we get it over with quickly.

“Thanks for letting us know about this,” Anja says to Mason afterwards. “We’re not really that popular, so I doubt anyone else would’ve come to get us.”

“Eh, well, you know,” Mason says, looking uncomfortable. “You guys are a part of the section and all that. It’s whatever.”

“I don’t think they would’ve missed us, honestly,” I comment.

“Um… I mean…” Mason starts biting his lip. “I don’t have any beef with you guys.”

“Even though we’re friends with Ashley?” Anja says, slightly teasingly. I’m not sure what this is supposed to mean, but Mason seems to understand it.

“Well, I do have a beef with her. But that’s just her, that doesn’t extend to you guys. Or Zoe.”

“Alright, that’s good to know,” Anja replies. “I know Ashley is rather cold, but she does have some redeeming qualities.”

“Eh, qualities shmalities,” he retorts, making a dismissive hand gesture. “I just think someone needs to show her that she’s not some holy prophet of horn playing…”

“But how can you do that if you’re in the trombone section?” Anja questions, giggling at him. “You two won’t ever have to directly compete.”

“I’ll take any symbolic victory over her I can get,” he replies. “Well, okay… maybe not  _ any _ victory… but any legitimate one.”

He takes a deep breath. “Also, for the record, I did _ not _ know about Ashley and Zoe’s thing when I asked Zoe to Homecoming. I wouldn’t stoop that low!”

“Well, that’s good to know,” Anja replies, still looking amused by the conversation. However, I can’t help but to notice that there’s something funny going on here…

“Hey, wait a second!” I interject, directing my glare towards Mason. “How do you know about that? That’s supposed to be a secret!”

The smile drops off Anja’s face as she realizes it too.

“Well, um, it’s not really a secret anymore,” Mason comments, looking uncomfortable again. “Look, I didn’t participate in that at all. Like I just said, I wouldn’t stoop to depths as low as…”

“As low as what?” Anja questions hotly, her temperament rapidly changing. The speed of her 180-degree turn from laughter to fury would normally be frightening, but I find it oddly inspiring given the circumstances.

“Oh… oof. I guess you guys wouldn’t have gotten it, yeah…” He grits his teeth and looks around us, as if seeing if anyone is nearby. “Di… someone got a video of them, uh, making out during the game yesterday.”

“Oh shit.” Anja replies, breathing deeply. “And how much has this been spread around?”

“Uh… enough,” he says simply.

“Shit shit shit!” Anja chants quickly, putting her hands to her face. She quickly whips out her phone and starts furiously typing on it. Since mine starts buzzing, I assume that she is messaging in the group chat and open it up.

**Anja:**

Ashley we need to talk

**Ashley:**

Hello Anja.

Are we heading back soon?

**Anja:**

Someone got a video of you and Zoe together.

Everyone knows.

Ashley takes a while to respond, so Anja turns back towards Mason. “Who took the video?” She asks.

“Uh… I’m not, uh, totally sure,” he stutters, blushing furiously.

“Liar.” Anja states simply, her eyes narrowing at him. “I’m good at telling when people are lying, you know.”

“No, I’m s-serious…”

Anja rolls her eyes, grabs me by the arm, and marches us back to where we were hanging out previously.

By this time, there’s a reply in the group chat.

**Ashley:**

I’m very upset to hear that.

Who took the video.

**Anja:**

I don’t know. I can try and find out for you, though.

**Ashley:**

Don’t worry.

I have a theory as to who it is.

There was someone I saw near the area last night.

**Anja:**

What are you going to do?

**Ashley:**

Apply knowledge gained from past mistakes.

* * *

<Ashley>

Zoe and I head back to where the rest of the band is. Zoe hasn’t reacted too much yet, but she has been breathing very heavily. I simply keep walking, my hand around her wrist. People we pass by are wise enough to part for us like the water for Moses.

I just so happen to see exactly who I’m looking for sitting by herself on a curb near the fence. A stroke of good luck.

“Good evening, Yonca,” I state as I approach her.

I am pleased to see that she jumps to her feet upon hearing my voice. She looks scared. 

“I’m glad I could catch you alone. I want to ask you something.”

She slowly turns around to face me, trembling very slightly. “Ashley, I’m sorry about…”

“Bullshit,” I interrupt her. I press my advantage and step close to her, making her cower slightly. “So, it kind of seems like you already know what I’m going to ask.”

She gulps. “It wasn’t me.”

“If it wasn’t you, why are you so afraid?”

“I… someone else asked me... I saw you two walk away…”

“So who was it then? Who was it who, at your suggestion, followed after us and filmed us during our special little intimate moment?”

“No… I didn’t…”

I take another step closer to her, and she cowers like she’s about to be hit.

“You know, I really don’t care about the specifics. I just need a name.”

“Ashley, what are you going to do?” Zoe asks me, her voice thin.

“If she answers my question, nothing,” I say simply.

There is a pause. Then…

“It was Diana.”

Yeah. Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.

“I’m sorry,” she says again. She has a certain facial expression, like that of a broken prisoner of war. It’s one that I know well, for it’s haunted my dreams for the past three years. The fact that they even look a bit alike helps. I’m not sure if this makes me feel better or worse.

“If you’re really sorry, here’s what you’re going to do,” I begin in a whisper. She looks up me apprehensively. 

“Don’t apologize to me. You know, I’m not really the one being hurt by this. I’m used to this by now. No, you’re going to apologize to Zoe.”

She buries her face in her hands, as if about to sob.

“Ashley… come on. This isn’t helping anything,” Zoe simpers behind me, her face as pale as a ghost.

“No, Zoe. She’s compliant. She’s not getting away with this.”

I turn back towards Yonca. Her uselessness suddenly makes me really angry. “Well! Go ahead!” I shout at her.

She actually is sobbing now.

“Ashley! Leave her alone!” Zoe urges me, looking close to crying herself. “This isn’t her fault!”

I sigh. “Fine. Just go away, please.”

Yonca follows my advice, half-running away from the scene.

“So, there you have it then,” I state. “It was Diana who videoed us. Couldn’t resist the chance to have something to gossip about, I bet.”

Zoe must have missed it when Yonca said her name earlier, as her face goes from white to red, and she starts hyperventilating.

At that moment, Anja and Nova appear. Anja immediately goes straight to Zoe, looking extremely concerned about her condition.

“Zoe? Honey? Sit down for me,” Anja says, helping her sit down on the curb.

“Why… why would she…” Zoe barely stutters out before breaking down into tears.

“Take full, deep breaths for me, okay?” Anja says seriously. “You’re going to be okay.”

I feel a wave of gratitude for Anja. I’m concerned about Zoe, but currently only feel anger, so I doubt I’d be able to effectively console her. Anja, it seems, is a true friend to us; unlike those worthless whores that Zoe surrounded herself with.

“Uh… I’m not so good with the emotional stuff,” Nova remarks, standing around awkwardly. “So, what are you going to do now?”

“Commit a murder,” I say simply.

His eyes pop wide open. “Oh. Uh, okay. Good luck?”

I briskly walk away from the others and scan the crowd for a certain dirty blonde flautist.

“Hey wait!” Nova calls after me. “You’re not  _ actually _ gonna do that, right?”

I ignore him and continue searching. Of course I’m not actually going to. I’m not even sure how I would do that, given that I lack any weapons. I guess I could try bringing her into the Metaverse, since I have my phone…

My thoughts are interrupted when I bump into someone else who is staring at me harder than anyone else in the crowd. Well, no point delaying the inevitable. 

“Good evening, Terra,” I say as I approach her. “I was curious if you knew where Diana is.”

“I don’t fear your wrath, Ashley,” Terra tells me.

“Nor do I yours.”

She gives me a hard, steely glare. “Bullying people isn’t going to fix anything, you know.”

“That’s rich, coming from you.”

She leans back against the side of the bus behind her. “You know, when Yonca first moved here, a lot of people picked on her. She was worried that she was never going to fit in here, due to her differences.”

Hmm. So the little whelp must have told her about what happened already.

“I don’t give a fuck,” I tell her bluntly. “I don’t care what religious views anyone has, what culture they hail from, what race they are, or what gender they are. We are all equal under the law. And that means that shitty people will get that they deserve.”

“I see you fancy yourself the arbiter of justice.”

“Not me,” I say, smiling at her coldly.

Terra draws herself back up to full height. “I know it seems harsh. But I really am trying to help you guys.”

“Ah yes. Thank you so much.”

“But since neither of you seemed to have learned anything, I think I may just take this to a higher power.”

I give her a glare of instant death. Surely she doesn’t mean…

“And what makes you think that you’re helping anything by ruining Zoe’s entire life?”

“I didn’t do that. You did.” She bravely returns my glare. “When you did… whatever you people do to spread it.” 

I force a fake snigger at her. “Spread it?”

“Absolutely.” She starts picking at her fingernails, like I’m no longer interesting enough to have a conversation with. “Men go into prison straight… they leave it gay. What conclusion can we draw from that?”

I’m starting to seriously consider my “bring her into the Metaverse” idea, when an interruption comes in the form of Nova, walking up to me from the side. I guess he couldn’t resist witnessing the action.

“Hey Ashley!” he says, seemingly ignorant of the intensity of the situation. “Hey, um, Ashley. Zoe needs to, uh, ask you something. It’s really important.”

This is clearly just a bullshit excuse to get me away, but it does make me realize that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to press the Metaverse app in a crowded area. I give Terra one last withering look, trying to get across that she is lucky she got away with just that. Then, I say, “Alright. Let’s go see her, then.”

* * *

Anja and Zoe are now sitting on the floor solemnly. Nova and I sit down across from her. Zoe presses herself into me in a tight hug and starts promptly crying her eyes out onto my sweaty shirt.

“You guys should brace yourself for more bad news,” I start explaining. “I was just talking to Terra, and she said something kind of  _ interesting _ .”

“What was she talking about with people becoming gay while in prison?” Nova cuts into the conversation unexpectedly. “That’s not how being gay works!”

“Um… you’re right, it’s not,” I reply, as Anja briefly looks extremely confused. “She said that because she’s a total cunt.”

Zoe winces at this. In all of the drama, I kind of forgot that she used to be friends with these people. 

“Anyway, what did she say?” Anja asks me seriously.

“I think she might be planning to reveal us to the adults at our church,” I explain. “She said something…”

“No!” Zoe shouts through my shirt, starting to tremble.

“What are they going to do?” Nova asks. “Make you do double communion until you become straight again?”

“One, that’s not what communion is; two, the adults at our church include both of our parents, who can do quite a lot!”

“You don’t think… you guys are in danger?” Anja asks, looking startled.

Zoe is squeezing me so tightly that it’s restricting my breathing.

“In danger? I don’t know,” I admit. “But it’s probably not going to be a ton of fun.”

I’m thinking hard about whether or not my parents had ever indicated their feelings on lesbians or gay people in general before, but I’m drawing a blank. Honestly, it’s kind of funny. I could tell you without a moment’s hesitation that Chris Potter is my mom’s favorite saxophone player and that my dad can play every JJ Johnson solo on  _ Trombone Master  _ from memory, but I don’t know their opinions on gay rights, one of the most polarizing political topics of our day. 

“Your parents are fairly conservative people, are they not?” Anja asks me. “I saw that sign in your yard when I visited…”

“I don’t think they’re that socially conservative,” I respond. “They just don’t want to pay out their ass in taxes, that’s all.”

Anja continues to watch me doubtfully. Zoe withdraws from me again and seems to be holding back having another meltdown for now. She’s now holding her head and breathing deeply.

“When is Terra going to do the thing?” Anja questions. “Did she say?” 

“Well, given that we have church tomorrow, I think it’s a fairly safe bet she’ll do it then,” I begin explaining. “I’d rather rip off the bandage and tell them early morning before we go. If they’re going to learn about it anyway, I’d prefer that it be from me.”

There is a pause. And then…

“I’ll do it before church, too,” Zoe adds, sniffling a bit. “I… know they’re not going to like it. My family doesn’t like homosexuals. But maybe… if I can explain everything to them…”

She trails off there. I can see that there is fear in her eyes still…

“We’ll both do it at once,” I suggest. “That way… it’ll all be over in one go.”

Zoe nods in agreement. But she’s still looking blankly at the concrete. Like staring into a fireplace on a cold winter night.

“Well,” Anja says, “If… you need anything… either of you, just let me know. No matter what happens, I’ll be there for you.”

“Thank you, Anja,” I respond.

Zoe doesn’t say anything, but she does scoot over to give Anja a hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once Jesus suffered, heaven could not see Him. And now my ship is sinking, the captain stands alone.


	25. …Into The Fire (September 7 Part 1)

<Ashley>

Sunday morning is here, and I’m way more scared than I’d like to admit. With a couple of hours left until we have to leave for church, Zoe and I agree to get it over with.

Both of my parents are awake, just laying around in the living room. They’re deep in conversation when I walk in, so I decide to just take a seat on the couch and wait for a break. They’re sitting in the armchairs that are set up directly across from the TV, which is playing one of the Star Wars movies.

“I still remember seeing Return of the Jedi in theaters as a little girl!” Mom was saying. “I must’ve been, what, seven? Eight?”

“The cultural impact the series has had is phenomenal,” Dad explains. “I wasn’t a big fan of the prequel movies, however.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about those. Weren’t those coming out around the time you were born?” She asks, looking at me.

Listening to my parents just nonchalantly talk about movies somehow makes me feel worse, so I decide to go ahead and get this over with. 

“We need to talk about something important.”

“Oh, certainly!” Mom says, grabbing the remote and turning the volume on the TV down. “What’s going on?”

It’s stupid, but now that I’ve gotten myself into this scenario, I don’t even know how to begin.

Maybe it’s just that I always put myself in situations where I’m on the defense, and so I never have to properly explain myself. What’s the best way to approach this? Should I monologue about my experiences in life, like I did with Zoe yesterday? Should I pose theological questions?

After I’m silent for a while, my parents give each other a meaningful look. (But what are they saying?)

“Well, it’s about something I’ve known for a few years now,” I begin. And I should continue from there, but I can’t bring myself to say the word.

What’s wrong with me? Why is this the thing that breaks me? I’ve always been able to charge through just about anything. Whenever I imagined this moment in my head, it was always with me being tough, even defiant…

My parents definitely seem alarmed by my behavior. After another significant glance, my mom actually comes over and sits next to me on the couch. 

“Tell me what it is, Ash,” she says softly, looking into my eyes.

I’ve been so stupid. I never should have let any of this happen. I never should have put myself into this situation. My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I ignore it.

“It’s about Zoe and I,” I finally say. “We had a talk on Friday, and… we have mutual feelings for each other. Romantic ones.”

I see Mom’s shoulders relax slightly. (Why? That reaction doesn’t make any sense.)

“We were thinking something like that might be happening,” she says.

Of all the things I was expecting her to say, that was not one of them. All I can say is, “What?”

Mom gets up from the couch and starts pacing around, like she’s trying to do a lot of thinking.

“It’s true,” Dad explains as she does this. “Your mother and I, we have lived long enough to recognize when two people are in love.”

“Oh hush, I’m the one who noticed it first,” Mom snaps, though she’s smiling a little bit. 

I’m speechless. They just… knew already? Or guessed, at least? My phone vibrates again… and again… I guess I better check that.

“Now, Ashley, you seem very nervous about this,” Mom explains uncertainly, turning around towards me. “But, you should know that…”

At that point, however, I stop listening to her. My phone was vibrating because Zoe was messaging me. I think she might’ve started earlier than I did. 

And what Zoe says makes my blood run cold.

Mom must see the look on my face and stops talking. “What’s wrong? What happened?” she asks me, sounding genuinely frightened.

“Zoe and I had planned to do the big reveal at the same time,” I explain. “And it sounds like her parents aren’t taking it well.”

Mom’s eyes start darting around the room, like she’s looking for something. “What do you mean, not taking it well?”

“Well, they yelled at her, and she had to leave the house,” I say.

Mom makes for the kitchen. “I think it’s best if I go and try to smooth things out,” she says as she walks. She grabs her purse, which for some reason was sitting on the counter near the fridge, and then takes off. Which, of course, leaves just my dad and I.

“It’s a good thing that she’s going and not me, honestly,” he comments. “I tend to not be the best at convincing people of things. She’s a lot better with that sort of stuff.”

I glare at him, trying to gauge any sort of reaction that would indicate how he’s taking my recent revelation. However, he just sits there, looking thoughtful. Like usual. 

It kind of makes me angry.

“So… what are you guys gonna do?” I ask him.

He looks at me curiously. “About which thing?”

“About… anything,” I ask. I’m really not sure why his nonchalance is annoying me so much. “Are you mad? Am I about to be homeless too?”

“You’re certainly not about to be homeless, and neither is Zoe. But are we mad? I think not. I suppose I can’t speak for your mother, but all the same, I think I can be reasonably sure she won’t be.”

I sit and wait for a follow-up to this thought, but none comes. I guess what he said is a little reassuring?

“Did you ever have any experiences like this with other girls before Zoe?” Dad asks me after a while.

“Um… No,” I say truthfully. “There was someone else I liked before, but she didn’t reciprocate.”

“Okay. You said that you’ve known for a few years now. Do you have a particular motivation for telling us now?”

“Well, you guys were probably about to find out about it anyway, since some others at school found out and are intent on spreading it around.”

“Mmm,” is all Dad says to that. I still can’t see anything on his face, not anger, not concern, nothing. He’s just sitting there staring at the TV with glazed eyes. I can tell he’s not watching it, he just does that when he’s deep in thought.

I think I’ve had about enough of this. “Well, if you’re done with the twenty questions,” I tell him, but I can’t actually think of a way to end that sentence, so I just start making my way back towards my room.

“Wait!” he interjects suddenly as I go. I ignore him and keep walking.

* * *

<Zoe>

I’m quite surprised to see Ms. Davis’s car park across from me. Ashley hasn’t replied to my messages yet, but I assume she must have told her parents that I’m in trouble.

Ms. Davis gets out and immediately looks down at me with great concern. I imagine that I’m a really miserable sight. Sitting on the curb, having just lost about 80% of my body weight in tears.

She immediately plops right down next to me and pulls me into a deep hug. I hold back more crying for now, though I still can’t stop myself from sniffling loudly. 

“It’s going to be alright, Zoe,” she croons to me softly.

“Do… do you know? Did Ashley…”

“She told me about you two, yes. Now, let’s take a moment to get calmed down, and then I can take you home and…”

I shake my head. “No. I c-can’t go back.” Because it’s true. And the thought crushes every inch of me as I hear their angry voices in my head… over and over…

“What do you mean, ‘can’t go back’?” she asks, frowning over me. 

“I’m not… welcome there. Not w-wanted…”

“Oh, Zoe. I know things might have gotten intense in there, but I’m sure that… your parents still love you, and that in time things will settle down.”

I don’t believe her. But I don’t say anything. I feel like I’ve been torn to pieces. 

“Here, how about I go talk to them?” She offers. “You just stay right here, and we’ll talk things over.”

Sure enough, she gets up and walks back towards my house, leaving me feeling strangely cold.

* * *

<Ashley>

A few minutes after that, I hear a knock on my door. Dad comes in.

“Ashley, I really would like to talk to you about all of this,” he says.

“Well, you didn’t seem to be in a big hurry to spill the beans,” I spit at him, moving in my bed to a sitting up position.

“What’s the matter? Why the anger?”

“Well, first of all, if you guys already knew what was going on, why didn’t you… I don’t know? Say something?”

“We were waiting to see if you would tell us.”

“Well, there you go, I did. Happy now?”

He takes a few steps closer to the bed. “You told us because you were backed into a corner.” 

“Yeah, well, can you really blame me? Look at what’s happened to Zoe.”

Dad frowns at me. “Did you think that your mother and I would react that way?”

“Well, how was I supposed to know?”

There was a moment of silence. Dad slowly makes his way to the bed and sits down next to me. I kind of just wish he’d go away, though.

“Your mother and I, we care very much about you, Ashley,” he tells me solemnly. “Which means that, whenever something is wrong, we want to know about it.”

“Well then, something has been wrong for the past two and a half years. And I don’t mean me being a lesbian. If you can believe it, there are actually worse things that can happen to a person than that.”

“Why must you take such a defensive tone?” he asks, sounding annoyed for the first time. “If you feel honestly that you are that way, your mom and I are not going to fault you for that.”

“But if I was bi and I just happened to fall in love with a girl, would you have a problem with that?”

“What does… I think you’re missing the overall point.”

I’m so angry that I want to start throwing stuff around the room. “You think  _ I’m  _ missing the point here?”

“Tell me what’s really bothering you,” he urges me. “Tell me what’s wrong. You can be honest now.”

And how am I supposed to do that? How can I put it into words? 

The answer is, I don’t. I just start crying. I can’t believe it. I’m actually crying.

I admit that anger wasn’t a rational response to what was happening, but the emotion was too strong for me to overcome. So, after all these years, this is what it takes for my emotions to finally spill out.

There you go. Are you fucking happy now? You got me. You fucking got me. I failed the test.

Father just wraps his arms around me, and I do the same back.

* * *

<Zoe>

Ms. Davis returns several minutes later. Though I did not hear any raised voices from the house, I see that she is clearly furious. 

“Okay, change of plans, Zoe,” she says. “How about you come back to our place for the time being?”

I don’t have any other ideas, so I will myself to climb into the passenger’s seat.

I can tell that she’s still angry, because she’s driving way more aggressively than usual. Her acceleration and turning are erratic, and she’s going several miles over the speed limit.

My horrible sorrow starts to turn into anxiety. What happened between her and my parents? Maybe she’s angry because she’s on my side, and so she disagreed with them. But what if they managed to convince her to change her mind about being mad?

“I… I’m sorry,” I croak to her.

“Zoe, honey, you don’t need to be sorry for anything,” she says softly while running a stop sign. “I just thought that maybe we should take a day to let tempers cool… we weren’t quite able to… of course, I always found your folks to be pretty agreeable before…”

She trails off from there. I’m willing to bet that she’s only withholding further ranting because I’m in the car.

“You’re not... mad at Ashley and I?” I ask timidly.

“No, of course not. Not mad at you… Like I said, let’s wait a little while and see what happens.”

And on that note, we make the rest of the trip in silence.

* * *

<Ashley>

My mom arrives a few minutes later, with Zoe in tow, confirming my worst fears.

Zoe looks surprised, even shocked, when she sees me at first. I lead her back into my room.

I think that Zoe has already ran out of tears, but she still bawls into me. Loud, ugly sobs, like the cry of a wounded animal.

When it’s quiet, I can hear my parents talking seriously through the wall. They’re quiet enough to where I can’t make out what they’re saying. 

I don’t even have it in me to be angry right now, about what has happened. I’m sure the anger will come soon. But all I can feel right now is immense grief for her. I’ve lost friends before, but at least I’ve never completely lost a family. It’s tempting to just join in. But I had my little moment to cry, and so now I have to be tough for her sake. 

After a while, my mom pokes her head into the room, now dressed for church. She tells us that we should stay home from church today. That’s fine with me.

Still, I can’t help but to wonder how they’re going to be received there. Is Zoe’s family still going? That could get awkward, to say the least.


	26. A House Built On Sand (September 7 Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> February 16, 2021: Fixed a typo

<Collin (Zoe’s younger brother)>

This is like, the worst day of my life. I can’t believe they still made us go to church. 

Wasn’t able to retain much during Sunday school, unfortunately. You see, this interesting thing keeps happening. I keep having these weird flashbacks to a few hours ago, when my own sister ran out of our house crying her eyes out. Man, what’s up with that?

Jeez. If that’s how they reacted to  _ her _ coming out, I need to watch my fucking back. Still, with any luck they’ll come to their senses and she’ll be back this afternoon.

I walk past the choir room to see that Mr. Palmer has just finished giving his blessings to the choir, and the members of said choir are nearly done filing out of the room. Mr. Palmer catches my eye, and to my surprise, he beckons me to come inside.

“Collin, may I have a word this morning before service starts?” he asks me.

“Uhhh, sure,” I reply. Shit. This can’t be good.

He motions for me to take a seat in a chair by the front of the now empty choir room, and I sit.

“I have heard from your parents about the incident that happened this morning,” he states bluntly. “I want to make sure you understand that neither I nor your parents would ever do anything to harm your sister.”

“Uh, it’s a little too late for that,” I spit out before I can stop myself.

He sighs and purses his lips. “Well… it is true that much of this could’ve been avoided. It’s a pity…”

That’s not what I expected him to say. “What do you mean by that?” I ask, curious.

“How do I explain this to someone so young?” He takes a full breath, and starts to speak more articulately, like he does when he’s preaching. (I don’t even think he’s doing it consciously.)

“When a child is young, he or she is generally obedient to his or her mother and father,” he explains. “However, when a child reaches the teenage years, he or she may become rebellious and reject the rules and morals of the parents. Parents will typically react by either simply letting the child be, withdrawing and no longer involving themselves with the teenager’s life and personal decisions; or, the other extreme, ‘declaring war’ against their child by setting stricter rules and enforcing them more severely; or, most commonly, the parents will randomly oscillate between the two.”

“Guess there’s just no way to be a good parent, then,” I remark.

“There is a way; but it takes strength, patience, and faith, all working together as one. Anyways, sometimes, the teenager doesn’t rebel, at least not at first. He or she will spend years silently resenting his or her parents, and one day, that resentment will suddenly, unexpectedly, spill out all at once. I fear that this is what happened with Zoe.”

I shake my head. “With all due respect… that’s not what’s going on with her! Zoe doesn’t have a rebellious or resentful bone in her body. She was just trying to tell our parents the truth!”

“I believe that she told what she thought was the truth. And I believe that how your parents reacted made the problem far worse. But at the end of the day, we are all accountable for our actions. The sooner we get your sister to realize this, the better.”

I want so badly to keep on arguing with him, but I better hold my tongue or I’ll get in trouble again. Man, he really just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get that someone like Zoe would never  _ choose _ to do something so contrary to her upbringing. Well, hopefully somebody will talk some sense into him, but it’s not gonna be me. I’m not putting my ass on the line while things are still tense.

“I know that this is an upsetting situation… but bear with us,” he tells me, evidently misinterpreting the look on my face. “It’s best if we head downstairs… I still need to start service.”

So, we exit the choir room and head down the stairs. By this point, most people have already made it into the sanctuary. However, when we reach the bottom of the stairs, we see a couple coming in through the side door… Ashley’s parents! -Dramatic sting-

When he sees them, Mr. Palmer’s eyes briefly bulge out of their sockets, but he quickly regains his composure. “Ah… it is good to see you,” he says congenially. “We have much to discuss, but let us do after service. I’d rather not make a scene.”

“I’d rather not make a scene either,” Mrs. Davis says, nodding in agreement. The couple looks unusually dour today. What on earth are they doing here?

Mr. Palmer leaves for the sanctuary, and I take the chance to go tug on Mr. Davis’s sleeve. “Hey! Where’s Zoe?” I ask him. “Did you bring her?”

“Hmm? Oh, good morning Collin. No, the girls are not with us this morning.”

“What? Why would you come here and not bring them?”

He turns to face me. “I very much hope I am wrong about this, but… Alyssa and I may not be here for very long this morning.”

Without further explanation, they make for the sanctuary as well. What a cryptic answer. I guess there’s nothing left to do, so I follow them in.

I dash right for the seat where the rest of my family is. I am expecting to be reprimanded for walking in at the last second (even though it wasn’t my fault,) but it turns out, my parents are quite preoccupied right now. They are furiously whispering among themselves.

“Uh… what’s going on?” I whisper to Derrick.

“Well… a certain couple has decided to emerge,” he says darkly. “ _ Ashley’s parents _ .”

“Yeah, I know. I bumped into them on the way in.”

I crane my head to look at what Ashley’s parents are doing. They’re just casually walking to the back of the sanctuary. Not stopping to talk to anyone, or even really making eye contact with anyone. Though there are plenty of craned heads looking their way.

My parents are getting up from their seats!

“Hey, wait, where are we going?” I ask.

“ _ You’re  _ not going anywhere,” Dad says sternly. “ _ Your Mother and I _ are going to go have an adult conversation.”

And they walk off towards the back. Well, I may not understand what’s going on, but you bet your  _ ass _ I’m not missing the chance to watch some juicy drama go down. I get up from my seat and try to discreetly scuttle off to where Ashley’s parents are. Derrick gives me a bemused look but keeps his seat.

My parents position themselves next to Ashley’s and draw themselves up to their full height. Most of the area nearby has hushed the usual chatter to watch. Ashley’s parents don’t seem to have noticed what’s going on yet; they’re seemingly talking about the program with bored expressions on their faces. I’m pretty sure they’re just intently ignoring everyone else.

“So,” my mother begins threateningly. “Since you were so bold as to come here, explain to us all what you are doing with our daughter.”

Mrs. Davis, who is closer to the aisle, doesn’t respond for a few seconds, but then looks up and finally seems to notice my parents standing over her. “Hmm… Oh, hello Marie. What were you saying?” she asks in a pleasant tone of voice.

Mom blinks, surprised, but then her expression hardens again. “What are you doing with our daughter?” she asks again.

Mrs. Davis leans back in her pew. “Momentarily providing shelter, until you can find it in your hearts to act like adults,” she explains.

“Given what you’re doing, you have a lot of nerve showing up here,” Dad chimes in.

“Refresh my memory…  _ what _ are we doing, exactly?” Mrs. Davis responds.

“You’re going to allow your child to practice filth, aren’t you? And if that were not bad enough, you have taken one of our children into your home to do the same.”

“I don’t know… you haven’t been over in a while, but Ashley keeps her room pretty clean. And she’s very good about doing her laundry in a timely manner. I sure as hell wasn’t that clean when I was her age. I had clothes all over the floor… drove my parents crazy.”

“You are avoiding the issue! Do you deny that you are going to allow the practice of the homosexual lifestyle in your household?”

“Oh,  _ that’s  _ what you’re talking about. You should’ve been more  _ clear _ !” Mrs. Davis gives off a strange smirk.

Mr. Palmer has given up on trying to pretend that everything is normal and is now walking down the aisle. He is clearly in no hurry; in fact, he looks rather reluctant to be here at all.

“Ah, you two. I should have known,” he says solemnly as he arrives. “I thought I made it clear that I wished to discuss certain matters with you  _ after _ the service… but if you are so intent on having a discussion now, I would like to come before you as your pastor and hear what is bothering you.”

“Alright. Trust me, Jared, I would’ve much rather waited until after the service as well,” Ashley’s mom states. “But since these two are still clearly out of their mind, we’ll divulge some of our thoughts on the current situation.”

Both of Ashley’s parents rise from their seats and walk past my parents into the center aisle. There, however, they both come to a stop, facing the rest of the congregation. By this point, most people seem to have realized what’s going on and are turning to look. Ashley’s parents then turn and face one another. They stare at each other so intensely, that I get the impression that somehow the two are communicating via telepathy. Then, Mr. Davis gives his wife a small nod, and she turns back towards the others and begins to speak.

“To the Parkers, and to the congregation at large, I would like to pose a riddle. First of all, I know that you are clear and outspoken in your belief in the value of human life. Your stance is that you are  _ pro-life _ : You believe that life is precious, and that it is worthy of protection, starting from the very moment that a sperm fertilizes an egg, and continuing up until the fateful day in which our souls depart from our bodies at last. Very well, then. So, consider this. What would become of Zoe, had nobody come to her aid? My fear is that it would’ve ended like a story I’ve heard countless times. A child who is forsaken by her own parents has few places to go in the world. If they are lucky, like Zoe was, they will have friends or other family members take them in. Otherwise, they are effectively homeless, living in shelters, or couch surfing, or sleeping in the back of a car, or in the park of a large city. You get the idea.

“It’s a terrible fate to befall on anyone. Put aside, for a moment, whether or not you believe that homosexuality is an inherent moral wrong. If children are a gift from God, whom we are morally obligated to bring to term, otherwise we shall disrespect the blessing of the Lord; doesn’t it naturally follow that we are obligated to take our children from birth up until adulthood? Upon what basis would we be justified, then, in rejecting this blessing? If the child is gay, shall we say to the Lord, ‘This child you bestowed upon me is not mine, and I want nothing to do with it!’ No. Sexual orientation, as science has found, is a state of nature that cannot be altered once set. Therefore, the child, as God knew them in the womb, is given this characteristic by Him… for what reason, we do not know. But that much is clear. To suggest that to simply be born in a certain manner is to be more sinful than any other person, is to speak blasphemy, for it is a rejection of God as the Creator of life. And so, what, at the end of the day, morally distinguishes the actions of the Parkers from the actions of the Yips? Nothing. Absolutely nothing!”

Mrs. Davis stops speaking, breathing deeply. The congregation, by this point, is totally silent. I guess everyone else is too in awe of their sheer nerve to interrupt, but I do hear muttering coming from the corners of the hall. All eyes are on Mr. Palmer to see how he’ll react.

“Hmph,” he begins. “So you say that we ought to accept one’s vices, if they are predisposed to that vice? There are those in the world who are born to be genetically predisposed to alcoholism. Shall we leave the alcoholic to his debauchery, up until he has killed himself via alcohol poisoning?”

Mrs. Davis shakes her head. “That’s a bad metaphor, and you know it. One who is predisposed to alcoholism does not suffer from this until taking the first drink.”

“So you say,” Mr. Palmer says disdainfully. “But you ought to double check where you draw your values from. It sounds rather to me like you are basing your knowledge in the wisdom of the world, and not in faith.”

“Just because it’s  _ of the world _ doesn’t mean it’s wrong!” Mrs. Davis snipes back. “We use science to inform our faith- that is how it has always been.”

“Well… after gleaning so much about your personal worldview, one thing has become clear to us,” my dad says. “Everything that we feared about your household’s downward spiral is true. We shall, henceforth, be taking any action necessary to save our daughter.”

For a brief moment, fear flashes across Mrs. Davis’s face. But then, her scowl returns. “ _ Save _ her, huh?” She retorts. “You have yet to give any good reason why you  _ kicked her out  _ to begin with! You know what? After what’s happened today, we’re not coming back here. You have the word of the Lord printed in every pew, and you proclaim His holiness with your lips. But in the back room, I see the devil sitting, smoking a cigar. And in my dreams, I hear the Lord’s booming voice, saying ‘Get the hell out of there!’ This house of worship has morphed into a heart of darkness.”

Mrs. Davis seems like she’s finally done. She’s so worked up about this, that she’s gone red in the face. But then, she jerks her head towards her husband, as if to say, “It’s your turn.” Mr. Davis clears his throat.

“Gregg, do you have something to say too?” Mr. Palmer asks.

“I do,” he says. “Have you all not experienced the dark night of the soul? For it is the believer who feels weak and insecure in faith who will cling to what is comfortable and familiar. We wish to hide the world from our sights, by surrounding ourselves with only that which is clean, pure, and holy. But should a Christian fear the world? For it is we who were chosen to go into the world as workers. Is a doctor afraid of the hospital, or of his patients? Is a teacher afraid of the school, or of her students? What good is a worker of God who fears the world and despises those who walk without faith? We are called to be the salt of the earth.(1) What good is it, to the stew, for salt to stay within the saltshaker? I fear that Christians in this country have become complacent in power. Christians were not meant as a group to wield social and political power; we are tasked to turn the other cheek(2), and to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s(3). In the beginning, we had nothing. We were hated and persecuted. And so it will be in the end, before the Lord rises again(4). And in countries across the world, we are still hated, murdered in droves by Islamic terrorists or Communist governments. And yet, here in the United States, things are different. We are not only free to practice, but in fact, it is Christians who dominate our social power structures. And yet, when that power is threatened, we will cling to it by any means necessary. When the schools set a non-religious academic agenda, we claim we are persecuted. When retail stores say ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas,’ we claim we are persecuted. When we are asked to tolerate others who are not like us, we claim we are persecuted. Have you not the self-awareness to see how utterly commiserable you have become? Ah, the trees and the forest, how often must they be in competition for our attentions! The Holy Land has not been ours for millennia. When we are ordered to be the salt of the earth, are we to still believe ourselves a city on a hill?

“It has been frequently noted over the course of our congregations that the generation who is coming of age today; that generation which our children belong to; has rejected our faith in unprecedented high numbers. This is rightfully a concern; but are we to draw the conclusion that this phenomenon is wholly caused by a failing of this generation? That an institution which is thousands of years old is on decline, because today’s youth are simply more selfish, more undisciplined, and more hedonistic, than any other young generation in the history of society? It is a bold claim to make; and, conveniently, one which requires no action on our part to amend, for it is of no fault of ours that the young generation of today have naturally less moral character than any other, or is raised to have less moral character than any other by those outside of our ranks. What shall we  _ do _ , then? Well, how often in our personal relationships is the pointed finger a symbol of deferred responsibility? Consider that we, as an organization, have cultivated a culture of apathy and contempt towards those among us who are the most forsaken; the most destitute; and the most impecunious of all. But did not the Lord say that any beggar, any vagrant stripped of a home, may yet be an angel in the clothing of men?(5) It is written, “As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.”(6) Consider the parable of the harvest. The workers sow the seeds into the earth; which shall flourish, and at the harvest, the farmer shall use those who have born good fruit to multiply the harvest exponentially; and determine Himself which fruit bears bad fruit, and therefore is better thrown into the fire;(7) and yet we are workers whom, though our duty is to sow seeds, we instead go into the fields with hatchets, to butcher those crops which are yet to be ready for the harvest; because we are willfully blind to the wondrous fruits of which shall someday come of those crops; we hack and slash not with divine insight, or impartial cogitation, but with a sense of self-preservation of that which is personally comfortable and familiar. What good are we then, to the farmer? How can a field of workers, through centuries of intellectual inbreeding, grow hostile towards its own accredited duty? And so… we will seek greener pastures than here.”

And on that note, they finally leave, seemingly having said their piece.

For a while, there is stunned silence. I take the opportunity to get back to where I was supposed to be sitting before.

Well, that’s about as exciting as things ever get around here. My brain is swimming, trying to process everything that just happened. What did Dad mean by “any means necessary” to get Zoe back? Does that mean we’re going for the nuclear option? Also, what even was like, half of the shit Mr. Davis said? Whatever it was, it was pretty awesome. I guess I got what I hoped for from earlier. We’ll see what Mr. Palmer says after he gets back up to the podium…

When he does, he spends a few moments adjusting his glasses, and then slowly turns his face upwards to face the congregation.

“As you have no doubt just heard, there is a family among us who seems to have left our ranks forever. As pastor, it is always my hope that I shall be able to resolve disputes among our members peacefully; in this case, I was unable to do so. We will continue our service as planned today, but first, I would like to take this moment to reaffirm to you all the unique position we are in as Christians. We base our lives solely off of the wisdom of God. Those outside of these walls, all that they have is the wisdom of the world. Whenever you walk into a bookstore, now, there are rows upon rows of so-called ‘self-help’ books. That speaks volumes about how empty life is for those who abandon the values of God. There is only one thing that will bring us true fulfillment in life, and that is if we come together, united as one church, to spread God’s word through the world, armed with the full armor of God and the shield of faith.(8)”

So that’s his response. Yeah, I’m not buying that.

I’m kinda glad to hear that Ashley’s parents are going to take care of my sister… but on the other hand, does this mean that she’s not coming home after all? This thought makes me feel lonely… But on the  _ other _ other hand, our parents really seem to be off their rockers for the time being, so maybe it’s in her best interests to stay there, at least for now. I’ll have to be sure to keep up with her on Skype or something.

* * *

<BBD>

The title: Matthew 7:24-27

  1. Matthew 5:13
  2. Matthew 5:39
  3. Mark 12:17
  4. This is articulated many times in The Bible, but one such time is Matthew 24:9
  5. Hebrews 13:2
  6. Matthew 25:45
  7. Matthew 13:3-8;19-23
  8. Ephesians 6:10-17




	27. The End. (September 7 Part 3)

<Zoe>

“Hey. Hey. Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup-”

It feels as if someone is shaking the bed. I try to remember what I had just been dreaming about. It had been a rather frightening one. I think it involved an amusement park mascot kidnapping children. I try to put it out of my mind as soon as possible.

“Zoe! It’s Christmas Eve! The whole family’s going to be here in like an hour!”

My eyes fly open. There, at the side of my bed, is my younger brother Collin, no doubt sent here by my parents.

“I must have overslept,” I say, already starting to feel panicky. I only have an hour or less to get dressed and ready…

“You’re fine, we still have an hour,” he says flippantly, clearly not understanding my unique challenges. He dashes out of the room without a second thought.

As I crawl out of Ashley’s bed, a shadow envelops me as I remember what happened. I must have cried so hard that I fell back to sleep. I check the clock- it’s now 1 PM. I should feel hungry since I never actually got to eat breakfast, but I just feel a sort of dullness. Some part of me, a huge part of me, has been ripped away, leaving me empty forever.

I walk out of Ashley’s room and into the kitchen area. Her parents are home from church by now, but there don’t seem to be any lunch plans in motion. Her father is on the couch in the living room, talking on the phone with someone. Her mom is washing dishes, a glum look on her face. Ashley is nowhere to be seen.

I overhear Mr. Davis’s side of the conversation as I walk in.

“Mm-hmm… Well hold on there, we don’t have any proof something like that even happened. Of course, it hardly makes a difference either way…”

“Hey there, Zoe” Ms. Davis says, putting the dishes down and turning to me. She tries to give me an encouraging smile, but gives up after a second or two. “We’re still working on talking things out with your folks. You can get something to eat if you need to.”

I appreciate how hard they’re trying to make things right, but... somehow, I don’t think that I’m ever going to be able to live there again. And even if I do, things will never be the same. They can’t be.

“Can I ask you a question?” I ask, my voice small and squeaky.

“Of course.”

“What will happen if… I don’t get to go back?”

Ms. Davis gives a heavy sigh. “Well… if it comes to that, you can stay here as long as you need to. Of course, we won’t force you to, if you have a family member you’d rather stay with…”

“Why, ma’am, you’re jumping to conclusions. I never… Yes, I do, of course I do, you know that… No, I’ve never smoked marijuana. What does that have to do with anything?”

It suddenly occurs to me who Mr. Davis is talking to on the phone with.

Ms. Davis clears her throat loudly, which seemingly was a signal, as Mr. Davis gets off the couch and goes into the master bedroom, still talking: “Come on now, be reasonable… They’re children, Marie! There’s no way that…”

“Let’s get you something,” Ms. Davis says, slightly louder than she was before.

“Okay,” I agree. “I never actually ate breakfast, so just some cereal is fine.”

She scoots over the pantry and opens it up. On a middle shelf are five unopened boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

“Sorry for the lack of variety, there was a sale,” she explains.

* * *

Only about ten minutes left until people start arriving, and I’m still putting on my makeup. I picked out my flowery white dress for the occasion, I hope that it will do…

There’s a knock on the left door. “Hey! Can I come in and brush my teeth?”

“Come in!” I say.

Collin barges in, and slides past me to get to the other sink. He gives me a sort of mystified look.

“Why are you putting on  _ makeup _ ?”

“It’s important to look nice for a family gathering like this!”

He scoffs. “Is it really, though?” He reaches under my arms to grab his toothbrush. 

Let’s see here… which shade of blush for this? My cheeks are naturally very rosy, so maybe not something too red…

I put on a paler shade, ignoring Collin’s usual overly loud spitting into the sink.

“How do you even keep track of all of that stuff, anyway?” he asks, watching me work with a sort of fascinated horror.

“It’s really not that complicated, you know,” I explain. “Primer, foundation, contouring, blush, then eyes and lips last.”

He stares at my kit for a little bit, as if trying to make sense of which item was which. Eventually, he gives up, and rolls his eyes dramatically. “Girls are weird,” he declares, before exiting the bathroom.

I take a hard look at myself in the mirror. Since I’m rather low on time, should I bother with mascara? It might come off as over-the-top anyway.

From the right, Ashley enters. She looks surprised to see me there.

“Are you alright?” she asks me.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” I say, “I’m just… really lost in my own head right now.”

“Can I use the sink for a moment?”

I move aside to give her access to the sink, where she starts thoroughly scrubbing her hands.

I look around Ashley’s bathroom and notice something odd. There’s a little shelf right next to the toilet which has a small stack of fashion magazines on it, as well as a book titled  _ The Ask and the Answer  _ that I’ve never heard of. Ashley  _ really  _ doesn’t seem like the type to be interested in those types of magazines. Maybe she uses them as spare toilet paper?

After Ashley is done, I follow her back to her room, not having any other ideas for what to do with my time. We both sit down on her bed, where Ashley puts her face in her hands. After a few minutes, she sits up, takes a deep breath, and asks, “So, how are you feeling after this morning?”

“Honestly? I’m having a hard time feeling much of anything right now.”

“I know how that feels,” she declares, before stretching and hopping to her feet. “And I hate to be a downer, but I should warn you that whenever that happens, it doesn’t mean your emotions are gone. It just means they’re waiting, spying on you for the most unexpected time to invade again.”

I don’t know how to react to this information. I guess now I’m more prepared?

Ashley grabs a dirty, brown journal with a pretty pink gem in it that was sitting on her bedside table and sets in on her desk.

“My parents seem to be reacting to the news in an… interesting way,” she comments.

“They’ve been very kind to me,” I tell her. “Your mother said I can stay here as long as I need to.”

“Oh really? She said that?” Ashley whirls around suddenly. “I just wish I knew what’s going on inside their heads right now. Because it’s not like they’re ever going to tell me.”

And after all of that, she sits back down on the bed again.

“You seem restless,” I comment.

“It just feels so stupid,” she gripes. “Just sitting around the house right now. Doing nothing. Nothing happening. While all of this horrible shit is happening. I need some sort of outlet.”

For some reason, I get a vivid mental image in my head of Ashley burning down someone’s house. I lean over and put my head on her.

* * *

It’s a real family reunion today. Pretty much every family member who lives nearby is here. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins… lots of cousins. So many that Collin needs my help in remembering their names. The chatter is so loud that it’s deafening. Some of the younger ones are lined up by the TV. Seating is so tight that Collin and I are sitting on the floor.

“When do you think we’re going to get our turn on the Wii?” he gripes.

“Oh, let the younger ones have their fun!” I chide him.

“We hardly ever have a chance to play together anymore!” 

“Well Collin, we’re getting older. We have responsibilities now.”

“Responsibilities.” He says this in a mournful way, like he’s speaking about a tragic event that took place recently.

“Things are only going to be more busy when we get to high school, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I’ve heard. School is all anyone cares about anymore.”

That’s when we’re visited by our own golden retriever, Shadow, who rolls right onto my lap. 

“Who’s a good boy?” I croon at him, as I pet him along his back. He’s panting heavily, no doubt excited to see so many people over.

“Isn’t there just something sick about it?” Collin says. “The fact the most important aspects of our lives right now are a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper?”

He starts picking at the carpet agitatedly. “And no matter how high you work those numbers, you don’t get any respect!”

“We don’t do our schoolwork to be praised for it,” I tell him. “We do it for our personal betterment as people.” 

“Well, it’d still be nice to get some recognition every now and then!” He again looks twisted, and oddly mournful.

I don’t know what’s gotten him so worked up. Oh well. It was always on me to be the more mature one. (At least, that’s the way I rationalized it back then.)

* * *

By the time of the evening, Ashley’s parents are away for a gig, leaving us on our own once again for dinner. Ashley evidently isn’t much of a cook, as she is currently rummaging around the freezer.

“Oh, here we go!” she exclaims, pulling out a rather large TV dinner. “Do you think that if we split this lasagna, it’ll be enough for you?”

“Yeah, that’ll be enough,” I reply, feeling like I’ll be lucky to even finish my half with my current appetite. “Do you need any help?”

“It’s a TV dinner. I think I’ll be okay.” She gives me a quick kiss on the cheek, and then walks over to the microwave to get it started. I figure that I’ll go wait in the dining room. 

The dining room table is packed to its full carrying capacity. There are actually so many people here that some of them are sitting in the living room. Everyone has their plates piled with grilled salmon, asparagus, macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes. I take a seat in between Collin and my mother. Collin’s plate is about 75% macaroni and cheese.

“Is everyone at the table?” asked Grandpa Bob, my grandfather on my dad’s side. “If we’re ready to start… I just want to say thank you to Jesus our lord. Thank You for our food today, for family, and for everything we have in life. On the eve of Your birthday, we praise You. Amen.”

There are a few “Amens” around the table, and then everyone goes back to chattering as before. 

Ashley walks into the dining room holding a plate in each hand. Shadow runs up to her and starts pawing along her front. Ashley is very confused by this, and simply stands still and says “Um… um… what do I do?”

“Get down, boy! That food isn’t for you!” Dad shouts, getting up from the table. “Here, I’ll let him outside.” I make a mental note to slip him some leftovers later.

“Sorry about that, I’m not too used to pets,” Ashley explains as she sits down directly across from me. “You wanna know a fun fact? Jesus wasn’t born on Christmas Day.” She slides me one of the plates she was carrying. “He was most likely born in the summer or fall, according to historians. Christmas was actually adapted from a pagan festival. So really, Christmas isn’t actually even that Christian, despite having the word ‘Christ’ in the name. Weird, huh?”

Nobody else reacts to this, which makes sense because she wasn’t really there. I ponder this as I start on my portion of the lasagna. It almost feels like something I should point out… but somehow, I feel that my family doesn’t really want to be corrected.

“So, how is my favorite niece doing?” My Aunt Kathy asks me, sitting on the end of the table past Collin. (The joke is, of course, that I’m her only niece.) “You’re at an age where you’re starting to get interested in boys, aren’t you?”

“Oh Kathy, she’s still in eighth grade!” Mom interjects. “It’s too early for that!”

“What kind of boys are you interested in?” Aunt Kathy asks me, ignoring Mom.

“Um…” My brain scrambles to think of some boy I found interesting… but I end up going with a boring cop-out answer. “Ones who have noble character and a strong sense of purpose, I suppose.”

“Oh honey, I didn’t mean like that. I meant like, tall? Short?”

“Um, tall, I guess,” I say. I wink at Ashley, who looks confusedly back at me.

“Well, I think it’s very admirable that you would prioritize a man’s character,” Mom comments. “Looks won’t determine if a man is marriage material…”

“Not everyone gets married, you know,” Collin cuts in unexpectedly, stabbing his mac and cheese so hard that it’s making loud clinking noises.

“Your hair is getting too long, boy,” Mom retorts, reaching over to comb through his hair with her fingers. Collin just ignores this, and keeps on spearing his noodles as if they personally insulted him.

As for me, I stay silent and continue with my lasagna. It’s actually pretty good for a TV dinner. I wonder which brand it is?

* * *

Later that evening, both of us were lounging around in Ashley’s bedroom. Ashley got so bored that she started talking about state politics.

“...Everyone thought that Lt. Gov. Perry was going to go on to be the next long-term governor, but in 2002 Schneider pulled off an upset win against him in the primaries. Then, you already know this part, Rep. Beatty challenged him in the general when he was up for re-election… Anja’s mom. It’s a damn shame that she passed away like that. Of course, we didn’t live in Texas yet at the time, so I don’t know a lot about the controversies surrounding that race. Anyway, since then, he’s been re-elected again and again pretty much uncontested. He’s now the longest serving governor in the history of the state.”

Suddenly, she catches my eye and stops talking. “I bet I’m boring you to death.”

I shake my head. “No, it’s not you. It’s just… I can’t stop thinking about them.”

She slowly sits up and puts her arm around me gingerly.

“This is going to sound really stupid,” I say, “But… I think I’m going to miss them.”

“That’s not stupid to me,” she replies. “Every now and then, when I’m having trouble getting to sleep, I still think about my old friends. I wonder if they still remember me. If they’ve changed. If they regret what happened… not like it really matters.”

“And the other thing is… all my memories of my life… even ones that used to be happy… now just seem so… wrong.”

“We all miss the good old days. Even if they weren’t as good as we remember. It’s human nature.”

I lean over against her, pressing my head above her chest. She wraps her arms around me, seemingly instinctively. 

“If there’s any silver lining to this,” she says, “It’s been really nice to have you around the house today. Having someone to talk to. Normally I’d be practicing, doing homework, maybe reading, maybe watching TV if I’m home alone…”

“Thank you for being here for me,” I tell her. “It means more to me than I can ever say.”

“We’re in this together, Zoe. Don’t forget that.”

And for a while, we just sit there like that. Feeling each other. Our souls momentarily vibrating together.

I thought it this morning, and I still think it now. I don’t think things are ever going to be the same again. My life has been changed dramatically, permanently, and harshly. It feels as if I’ve been poisoned.

It feels as if I’ve been poisoned, not just yesterday, but for a long time. I couldn’t have ever believed this of my own family. But now that I have seen a new side of them, it feels rather like something which I've always known, that’s haunted me like an ominous shadow. Because everything in my life- private and public, morning, day, night, inside, outside… it was all for them. And it’s hard not to feel like it was all for nothing. Because I couldn’t have ever been the child I needed to be for them. The thought crushes my soul like a soda can.

My life has been destroyed, and now it’s up to me to do something I’ve never dreamed of doing before; forming a new one from the ashes. But at least the new one won’t be all bad. After all, I have her.

**~Ending of Movement I: Shattered Dreams St.~**

* * *

<BBD>

(This section is mostly for flavor so don’t analyze it too hard. Also, yes I changed the Arcana of some of the canon Personas. But if Atlus can change Sandman from Strength to Magician in between games, I can change Michael from Judgement to Chariot for my fanfic.)

The team so far: 

The Chariot: Ashley Viola Davis

Persona: Michael

Moveset:

\- Skewer (Light physical damage to one foe)

\- Gale Slash (Light physical damage to all foes)

\- Kouha (Light bless damage to one foe)

\- Makouha (Light bless damage to all foes)

\- Tarukaja (Boosts attack for one ally)

The Fool: Ted

Persona: Orpheus

Moveset:

\- Gun (Light gun damage to one foe)

\- Agi (Light fire damage to one foe)

\- Maragi (Light fire damage to all foes)

\- Dia (Light healing to one ally)

\- Media (Light healing to all allies)

\- Amrita Drop (Heals status condition of one ally)

\- Tarunda (Lowers attack of one foe)

The Lovers: Anja Ellen Beulen

Persona: Narcissus

Moveset:

\- Garu (Light wind damage to one foe)

\- Magaru (Light wind damage to all foes)

\- Amrita Drop (Heals status condition of one ally)

\- Luminescent Flash (Makes one foe dizzy)

\- Rakaja (Boosts defense for one ally)

The Emperor: Nova Jace Mosely

Persona: Thor

Moveset:

\- Assault Dive (Light physical damage to one foe)

\- Kill Rush (Light physical damage to all foes)

\- Zio (Light electric damage to one foe)

\- Mazio (Light electric damage to all foes)

\- Sukukaja (Boosts accuracy and evasion for one ally)

\- Regenerate I (Heals a tiny amount of HP per turn)

Social links:

The Fool:  Ted

The Magician:  Mason Wallace

The Priestess:  ???

The Empress:  Zoe Parker

The Emperor:  Nova Mosely

The Hierophant:  Gregg Davis

The Lovers:  Anja Beulen

The Chariot:  Ashley Davis

Justice:  Alyssa Cooper

The Hermit:  Kierstyn Beatty

Fortune:  ???

Strength:  ???

The Hanged Man:  Jace Mosely

Death:  Collin Parker

Temperance:  ???

The Devil:  Terra Lundberg

The Tower:  ???

The Star:  ???

The Moon:  Diana Coleman

The Sun:  Yonca Bernard

Judgement:  Lucy

Villains so far:

Envy: Timothy Pavia

Lust, probably: Who is the ruler of the jungle palace at the school?

???: “The Dark Trooper”

???: “The Queen of Shadows”

???: Moloch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mvmt. II coming soon-ish. I wish I could guarantee a date, but I can't because of how crazy my life is. It'll be mostly unchanged from the previous version, except for the minor change that there will actually be an ending this time. So I guess you can read up to the cliffhanger in the 2019 version if you're desperate. Just skip 34 & 35 since I moved that scene earlier in the story so it'll be repetition. Otherwise, see you soon.


	28. The Phoenix (September 15)

<Zoe>

School and band do not stop. Even if I’ve been suddenly uprooted from the home I’ve lived in for almost fifteen years, living off of my best fr- my girlfriend’s utilities and even needing to use some of her clothes, which don’t quite fit me. For some reason, talks between our parents over the course of the last week don’t seem to be going well. It apparently took quite a bit of negotiation just to get my school things and instruments here.

As hard as it is to do, I need to put that out of my mind for right now. My world geography class just ended. I only have to focus for two more class periods… and then marching band…

My silver lining for today is, I was actually able to make all-region jazz band! Auditions happened last weekend, and I managed to get the second alto saxophone position in the second band. Ashley did even better, she made third trumpet in the first band and is actually getting to move on to all-area. She was quite pleased, naturally. That said, there was one thing that annoyed her: Mason also made the first band, which means that she’s going to have to deal with him when it comes time for the concert. In addition, because he made second chair, he tried to claim to her that he “beat her…” despite the fact that there are three tenor trombones and five trumpets in the first band, so if anything, they tied. Anyways, this coming weekend is the Homecoming Dance. I probably won’t be able to attend it, unfortunately. Without easy access to my wardrobe, what would I wear?

I’m almost to my biology class when I accidentally bump into someone. It seems that I got lost in thought once again.

“Oops, excuse me,” I say softly.

However, the other person; a tall brunette with straight hair; turns towards me and puts her hands on her hips angrily. “Don’t you dare touch me again,” she scolds me.

“Oh… I’m sorry… it was just…”

“I know who you are. Don’t you dare try and fool me, you pervert.”

She pushes me backwards, and my backside slams against the lockers behind me and I fall to the ground. And I feel like I could cry and my butt hurts and everyone’s staring at me and I put my face in my arms trying to make everything stop…

“That’ll teach… AARGH!” I hear something slam loudly against one of the lockers.

I look up from my arms. The girl who pushed me is now bleeding profusely from the nose and is bawling. Ashley is suddenly standing near me, cold fury etched into her face.

“Come on, Zo. Get up.” She extends a hand towards me, which I take, and she pulls me to my feet.

“Let’s get to class. Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” I say. We walk the rest of the way to my biology class, Ashley’s arm around my waist.

However, as we get to the door, Coach Everheart pokes his head outside the classroom.

“What’s going on out here? I heard a noise,” he says, in his normal slightly awkward tone. When he sees what happened to the other girl, a look of shock comes over his face.

“What happened to Taryn?” he asks us.

“I slammed her into a locker,” Ashley explains, as if it was no big deal.

Coach Everheart’s look of shock turns into utter bafflement, and he turns towards Ashley and stares at her. “ _You_ did this?”

“I did,” Ashley replies.

“Okay… Ashley, I’m going to have to ask you to go explain this to a counselor.”

“Okay, I will. Have a good class, Zoe,” she says. She turns and goes back down the hallway. Though she is being disciplined, she still walks with the same confidence as always, like she’s still somehow in charge. Coach Everheart then makes his way over to the girl, who is still crying hysterically. I can’t find it in me to feel bad for her right now.

* * *

<Ashley>

The school counselor I end up getting set up with is a woman named Sydney Snyder. Yeah, I had to do a double take when I saw the name on the desk. She has blonde hair, but it looks like it was dyed. Her eyes are constantly open just a little bit too wide for some reason, and she speaks with a thick, southern accent. She has a husband and a son; I can see a vacation picture pinned behind her of the three of them at Yosemite… which is not far from where I used to live. What a small world it is.

The door opens behind me.

“Thank you for being here, Misses…”

“Cooper. I’m Ashley’s mom. Her father could not be here today.”

My mom takes a seat next to me. I knew that Dad couldn’t make it, as he has a rare Monday afternoon gig.

“That’s okay. Okay, Ashley, how about you explain to your mother why you are here?”

“Okay.” I let out a small sigh before explaining. “I walked out of my biology class, and I saw someone bullying Zoe. She shouted insults at her, and then pushed her into a locker. I took this girl’s head and slammed it into a different locker. It apparently broke her nose, so I’ve heard. Coach Everheart told me to come here. Now, I’ve missed almost all of my speech class.”

“Okay… I see.” My mom says.

“Mrs. Cooper, I am giving your daughter Saturday detention for this. And I want you to understand that I am being generous. I know that you are mostly a good kid, Ashley. You have no record of disciplinary issues and extremely good grades. I understand that everyone has moments now and then in which their temper gets the better of them. But if there are any more incidents like this, you will be receiving in school suspension. Do you understand?”

“Miss Snyder… may I ask a question?” I ask her. “If you saw someone doing something like that to somebody that you care about- your spouse, or even your son- wouldn’t you have done the same thing? Wouldn’t you want to tear them apart, limb from limb?”

My mom kicks me under the desk.

“Ashley, you cannot just act violently towards people like some sort of vigilante,” Miss Snyder lectures. “There’s a system in place to deal with situations like this. If you see another student being bullied, you need to tell a teacher and let them take care of it.”

“Right. Miss Snyder, I’m going to be frank with you,” I say. “The teachers here don’t give a damn about us. This is not an isolated incident. Things like this have been happening for the past week, consistently. Sometimes in the middle of class, when a teacher was sitting right there. And they haven’t done a single thing about it.”

“Ashley… how about you to get to your last class,” my mom interjects. “I’d like to talk to the counselor by myself. And after school, we’re going to have a serious talk about this as well.”

“Sounds good to me,” I say. I get up from my chair and leave the office before Miss Snyder can override her. On my way out, I make brief eye contact with my mom, and her gaze… doesn’t tell me much. Typical.

* * *

<Anja>

I walk into the practice room in the back and am surprised to see that Nova is in there, on his 3DS. I guess he wanted to get a quick round in before marching band starts. He’s already in his shorts.

“Oh, hey there,” I say to him as I walk in.

“’Sup?”

“Hey Nova… can you turn around for a moment?”

“Uh, okay.” He does so.

I grab my own shorts out of my backpack and slip into them. “Alright… see you on the field,” I tell him.

I step out of the practice room and make to go outside, but I hear a voice addressing me.

“Did you really just change in a practice room?” it asks.

I turn and see that it’s Diana Coleman the flute player, who’s leaning on a pillar on her phone.

“Well, the other girls don’t like it when I change in the bathroom, now don’t they?” I explain to her.

She looks up at me with a leer. “I know about you. You’re _Anja_ , aren’t you?”

“I sure am. I think I’ve heard of you as well. Don’t you like to sneak up on people, take videos of them when they’re doing something compromising, and then send that video to everyone in the school?”

“If you mean your _girlfriend_ Ashley, she deserved it.”

“First of all; Ashley isn’t my girlfriend. Second; no, she most certainly did not deserve it! Nobody deserves to have their privacy compromised like that.”

“If she’s not your girlfriend, why are you sticking up for her? She is such a total… b-word all the time.”

“Trust me, I am very aware of her personal flaws. For one, however, I consider her my friend, and she has many admirable qualities. And even if we assume for a moment that Ashley is this evil person who deserves punishment; is it really okay to act cruelly towards somebody because we consider them immoral? Doesn’t that make us just as bad?”

“Not if you’re just getting them back for what they’ve done to you.”

“But then… when does it end? Think about whatever it was she did to you… and then everything that has happened since. I don’t know what set you against her… but surely, justice must be more than served now, right?”

I see the gears turning. Her face seems to soften a bit. “Fine… I guess I sort of see your point.”

At that point, I am saved from this awkward conversation by Nova, who comes out of the practice room after me. “What are you doing, Anja?” he says, uncharacteristically chiding. “Practice starts in five minutes! Let’s go!”

* * *

<Ashley>

When mom comes by to pick up Zoe and I, she asks me to get into the passenger’s seat instead of sitting in the back with Zoe. This is not a good sign.

What’s also not a good sign is that once we leave, there’s about five minutes of solid silence. Finally, after we are already halfway home, my mom breaks the silence.

“Hmm… Ashley… why did you have to break her nose?”

“I told you. She was…”

“No, hush. I meant… why did you break her nose, instead of just… giving her a bitch slap, or something like that. That would’ve been a much better move.”

“I don’t know, Mom. If you define ‘better’ by how much pain the other person feels, it wouldn’t have been.”

Mom shakes her head. “Ashley. I know that you’re having a hard time with everything. But you’re going to have to grow up a little.”

I feel my anger flare up again. _I_ need to _grow up_? That’s rich.

“Mom, you would’ve done the same thing in my place. Don’t lie.”

She pauses for a while. Then, she exhales and says, “You’re right. When I was your age, I would’ve done the same thing. In fact, I probably would’ve done something worse.”

Wow. I wasn’t expecting her to actually reply honestly.

“I don’t want you to do what I would’ve done,” she explains. “I was always the impulsive one. In this case, you should really act more like your father. He thinks everything through- sometimes to the point of being exhaustive. But because of that, he always comes back down to earth with great ideas.”

“I wasn’t acting impulsively,” I say in my defense. “It was all premeditated. Like I told that counselor, this has been happening for weeks. We’ve been sneered at, and intimidated, and called all sorts of names.”

“And you think that’s just going to stop now, huh?”

“Yes. I’ve shown what happens when people mess with us. They’d better leave us alone now.”

Mom shakes her head, visibly frustrated. I can’t help but to notice that the car is getting steadily faster.

“No, Ashley. In the grown-up world, being the ‘big tough guy’ doesn’t really work. I mean, honestly. George W. Bush wanted to be a big tough guy and look how well that… _Damn it!”_

I turn around and look out the back window to see that a police car is following us and flashing lights. I also catch a glimpse of Zoe, since she hasn’t made a peep this whole ride home. She’s intently staring out the window, her leg twitching slightly.

Anyways, Mom pulls over into a nearby parking lot.

The officer walks up to our side window. He’s a bit slimmer than your average police officer, but otherwise looks like your typical white guy. That said… I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen him before.

“Good afternoon ma’am, I’m Officer Caleb Snyder, I pulled you over because you were driving 47 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone,” the officer says in a hurry.

“Oh, no… I’m sorry, officer. I’m having a bad day. I promise that it won’t happen again,” my mom says stiffly.

“Well, I understand, but I’m still gonna have to…”

“Did you say that your name is Officer Snyder?” Zoe asks unexpectedly.

Officer Snyder pauses for a bit, startled. “Um… yes ma’am.”

“Do you have a wife who works at the school?” Zoe asks.

“Why yes, I do,” he says. Suddenly, it occurs to me where I’ve seen him; that Yosemite vacation picture in the back of the counselor’s office. It’s a small world, but it’s an even smaller town.

“Well, what a coincidence!” my mom chimes in. “It must have been your wife we were just talking to earlier today.”

“Oh, is that so?” he asks.

“Yes sir. Unfortunately we didn’t meet in the best of circumstances; disciplinary issue with this one,” she explains, gesturing at me.

“Ah, troublemaker, are you?” he asks me, leaning through the window and grinning at me.

I’m about to say “no,” but then I remember that I recently viciously attacked a local politician with a sword. “In a sense,” I say.

“Well, I’d better remember to keep an eye on you,” he says, but his tone is joking. “As I was saying, I’m still gonna have to give a warning. This won’t be on your record, it’s just a written note explaining why I pulled you over.”

“Okay. Thank you, officer,” my mom says.

He spends an agonizingly long time writing up the note, and then hands it to my mom. “You have a good day, ma’am.”

“You as well, officer.”

After he drives away, we set back out on the road.

“Anyways, Ashley… I think that you’re going to find yourself paying dearly for this in the coming days,” my mom continues.

“What, the fact that you got pulled over?”

“You know what I mean, smart mouth.”

There’s a pause. Then, my mom just _has_ to get one last word in.

“I know that this is probably the last thing you want to hear right now, but… ‘If somebody slaps you on one cheek, turn the other to them as well. If they want to sue you for your shirt, give them your coat as well. And if you are forced to walk a mile by this person, walk two.’”

She’s right. That _is_ the last thing I wanted to hear right now.

 **~Beginning of Movement II** **: Beating Out Of Time** **~**


	29. Butterfly Farm (September 16 & 17)

<Anja>

It’s yet another morning. Funny how’s it’s only mid-September, and I’m already sick of school.

I’m a bit crankier today than my usual chipper self because today is the day that my Aunt Kierstyn is moving away. Last week, she got a call that she was needed somewhere else in the state, and she’s had to get up and leave in a hurry. It’s all rather sudden, so I haven’t had much time to try and process my emotions on this. I’m going to go see her once more before she leaves after school today, but I’m still rather down about it all.

But still, I show up at school and walk into our usual practice room. Neither Ashley nor Zoe are there, what are they up to? Nova is there, but unusually, he has a copy of _To Kill a Mockingbird_ out and open and is looking down at it with a forlorn expression.

“Good morning, my fine fellow,” I say to him. “Doing homework?”

“Uh… no, not really.”

I sit down across from him. “Reading _To Kill a Mockingbird_ for leisure, then?”

“…No. I’m supposed to be doing a reading log of this, but… problem is, I haven’t finished the book yet.”

“Oh. That is a problem.”

“Yep.”

“Well, that’s what SparkNotes is for, bud.”

He starts drumming his fingers on the table, as he sometimes does when he’s thinking. “The problem is, I kinda want to actually finish the book. It’s actually pretty good, and I’m trying to not slack off on this stuff as much.”

“Well, when’s the reading log due?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Oh. Uh, if you’re a fast reader, maybe you can burn through it during your other classes.”

He stops drumming, and instead starts feeling the spine of the book, looking at it intensely. “Maybe I can read some of it like that, but it’s so hard to focus in class when everyone is talking. Plus, some teachers get mad if you do that.” He sighs at his book. “But then, when I get home, I’ll probably just procrastinate it more, since that’s where my computer and games and stuff are. Too many things which are more fun to do.”

I ponder this for a moment, and then an odd idea springs into my mind. “That gives me an idea, actually. There’s an audio book for TKaM, right? Maybe you can listen to that while playing a video game on mute. It needs to be something just stimulating enough to make you sit still and pay attention, but not stimulating enough to make you stop listening to the book. So maybe like, a game you’ve already beat before, or like an RPG. I dunno, something relatively mindless.”

Nova goes still for a bit, staring into space. “Damn,” he says. “That might work. I’ll try that.”

“Tell me how it goes, man,” I reply, pleased that he liked my idea. “And if all else fails, ring me up and I could probably find my reading log from last year.”

“Nah. If I get all the answers wrong, I want it to be on my own terms.”

I frown at him. “Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?”

* * *

<Zoe>

After school that day, Ashley and I huddle together on her bed to do an English assignment. Specifically, the reading log for _To Kill a Mockingbird_. We both lay on our fronts with the reading logs in front of us, mirroring each other.

“Okay… protagonist. Scout Finch," Ashley is rattling off. "Though come to think of it, she really doesn’t do much… Shouldn’t Atticus be the protagonist, in a sense? Imagine that. A story that’s from the perspective of a young girl, but her parents are more important to the wider, overarching plot than she is. Anyways, antagonist. Bob Ewell."

We both write that down onto our respective papers.

“Well, that’s the easy part,” she says. “Alright, you think you can do the next one?”

I look down at the paper. The next thing we have to fill out is _setting_.

“Um… somewhere in the south.”

I look at Ashley, who just silently stares back at me.

“I’m sorry… I’m so tired, I can hardly think,” I admit to her.

“Understandable. All of the drama… constant schoolwork… and marching band. It wears you down,” she says. “Actually… can I ask you a personal question?”

“What is that?”

“What motivates you to do your schoolwork? Why do you keep at it?”

“Well, I really value getting my education,” I reply without thinking. “I try to be diligent in my schoolwork so that I can learn as much as I can.

“Hmm. That’s a pretty good reason, I suppose.”

“What about you?”

“Honestly, Zoe? I don’t really have a good reason at all. The only real reason I work so hard at school is because I just like seeing my numbers go as high as possible. It’s one of the few ways that I can prove my status.”

She lets out a large sigh. “And I guess I sort apply that to band as well. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I do really love music. And it’s when I feel that love of music that I have my best practice sessions. But then, there are other days where I only think about getting ahead at the next audition. Those are the ones in which practicing only fills me with frustration and hatred. Then again, I suppose that’s just how I spend most of my life…”

“What do you mean?” I ask, startled by this proclamation. “Hatred of what?”

“I don’t know. Myself. My life. The world around me. Does it matter?”

She puts down her pencil and sits up. “It’s stupid… to only want to succeed to rub it in other people’s faces. I wish I could do what I do just because I love learning or whatever…”

I feel a little guilty, so I decide to spill the beans. “Well… if I’m honest, that’s not really why I do schoolwork either. When I really think about it… I do it because I’m afraid. I’m always amazed when I hear about the nightmares that you have, and how it’s always about alien invasions, or wars, or big things like that. My nightmares are always so simple. They’re always about me failing a test… not getting good enough grades… disappointing my family in some way or another.”

“Wow, they really screwed you up,” Ashley comments.

“I wasn’t trying to lie to you. It’s just… I’m never supposed to talk about stuff like this. So I’ve sort of… trained myself to give answers like that when people ask me. Most people are happy with me just saying that I love learning, you know?”

“Well Zoe, I don’t want you to have to feel the need to hide who you are anymore. I mean… you’ve already ripped off the bandage, so to speak. Maybe sometime… we should go on a date together, and just talk. Just the two of us. No need to be afraid of anything.”

I can’t help but to blush a little bit. Which is stupid, because we literally already live together. “A date… I think I would like that. Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. Try and think of a good place. And I don’t mean tonight, we really need to finish this. But… whenever we can. Anyways, setting: Maycomb, Alabama, the 1930s…”

* * *

<Anja>

After band is over, I drive up to my Aunt Kierstyn’s place, for the last time. It looks like I got there in the nick of time- the moving truck has left already, and she’s packing the last few boxes into her car as I pull into the driveway.

I walk up to her as she is closing the trunk. “Hi there, Aunt Kierstyn…” I say.

“Oh, hey Anja.”

“I wanted to come and see you one more time before you left.”

“Yes, I will be leaving in a matter of moments, I nearly have everything packed up now.” She kneels down a little bit to be on my height and smiles at me. “You look really sad- don’t be so down, Anja. I’m not going far, I promise.”

“Yes, well, I’ll still miss you. I always enjoy it when I’m able to come over.”

“Well, I’m glad that there’s at least one person in the world who likes seeing me. You take care of yourself while I’m gone, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

She opens her arms to me, and I walk into them and give her a big hug, which she returns.

“And Anja… remember a while back? When we discussed a certain something?” she asks me after we finally break apart.

“Oh, do you mean the Met-“

“Yes, don’t say it out here please. I just wanted to tell you… I don’t know what that friend of yours might be doing, but please, for your own good, do _not_ fuck around with any of that stuff. Can you promise me that, Anja?”

I gulp. Hopefully she didn’t hear. “Okay. I promise,” I lie.

We say our final goodbyes, and then I have to watch her drive away. I take a moment before I drive back home to wipe away my tears.

I know she’s not my mom. I know I can never replace her. But it was something, to have my mom’s sister around. And now that she’s gone, I feel so… alone.

* * *

The next day...

<Collin>

‘Sup fools. It’s Collin. You may remember me from narrating that one scene in the church. You know the one.

So, you know how parents lie to their kids a lot? Everyone has stories about how they waited in the living room on Christmas Day for Santa Claus to show up, only to see that “Santa” is actually just your dad. The best part about that whole charade is the whole milk and cookies thing. Like, they literally just make up this whole thing so that they have an excuse to give themselves cookies in the middle of the night.

Also, a lot of parents don’t want to tell their kids that their pets are dead, so they’ll say that the pet ran away to a “butterfly farm” or some shit like that. I know this because my parents actually tried to pull that on me when our old dog, Toby, passed away.

Oh, it’s okay Collin, Toby isn’t dead, he’s just on the butterfly farm, endlessly frolicking and enjoying life forever. You could at least tell me that he’s in Doggy Heaven or wherever. I’m not sure how accurate that is, because I don’t think the Bible explicitly says that animals go to heaven. But it’d at least be _closer_ to the truth.

The punchline is that they’re doing it again. But instead of doing it with a pet, they’re doing it with MY SISTER!

You see, the reason why my parents say stuff like this is because they’re just trying to hide what really happened from me. And this time, I think it’s a lot more damning. And I don’t just mean because they’re trying to pull it with a human. I mean, at least when Toby died, that wasn’t really my parents’ fault. You see where I’m going with this?

Because nobody talks about it. Nobody wants to discuss the rather horrifying scene Derrick and I had to endure a week ago! Whenever I ask a question like, “Is she coming home soon” or “Do we need to move her stuff to the other house,” they just get angry and don’t give a straight answer. So it’s basically the equivalent of the “butterfly farm” thing.

Oh, it’s okay Collin, we didn’t massively fuck up. Zoe’s just on the butterfly farm. Well, I guess in this case, at least she’s not actually dead. YET! …No, that was a joke, I don’t think she’s gonna die anytime soon.

And so I’ve found myself getting dragged along in this… cover-up operation. Basically, my parents are trying to use their connections to somehow spin this in their favor. So that’s why we’re at the local courthouse today… probably.

“Why do Mom and Dad have to drag us along for their boring business shit,” I complain to Derrick in the hallway.

“Dude, shut up!” he responds to me angrily. “If that dude hears you swearing, it could ruin whatever deal they’re doing!”

Yeah, he’s really fun at parties. Actually, what the hell _are_ they doing here, exactly? What’s this Pavia guy gonna do to help them? I decide to listen at the door.

“Why did you come to me, then?” The Justice guy is saying. “All kidnapping cases should be reported to the police, first and foremost.”

“Oh, don’t play dumb!” Mom snipes at him. “You know why we’re here. We need to know if we can count on you to take our side.”

He guffaws at them. “Oh, please. Don’t think that you can sway me by dangling cash in front of my face. I make my decisions based on the higher principles of law and order!”

“And by that you mean, you think you can win re-election just by being the incumbent!” Dad counters.

“I don’t need the help of people like you, Parker. I’ve served this locality for decades now.”

“You are truly an arrogant man!” Mom hisses at him. “Don’t be certain about your position. I’ve caught wind of a shadow campaign brewing against you. Something about denying a mother the chance to care for her own child… hmm, I wonder how a _second_ count of that would speed things up!”

The Justice sighs heavily. “Already? That foolish woman…”

“Yeah. Uh-huh. You don’t even deny it!” Mom presses him.

“Um… honey, please don’t give away too much _classified information_ ,” Dad cautions Mom.

And then there’s a little more of my parents bitching at him and they get all pissy and they storm out and wow, that backfired on them. I thought that this guy was pretty much totally in their pocket, but it seems that he’s grown a backbone recently and is now actually gonna do his job. Good on him.

And I mean, I’m not even sure why this would go to court. I guess maybe Ashley’s parents could make some sort of case because my folks are neglecting their child, or maybe her parents will try to get legal custody of Zoe and they don’t want that even though they aren’t really making any attempt to get her back so I don’t know what their plan is. Anyways, clearly my parents were worried about _something_ happening in the courts.

And dude, this is just stupid beyond belief. At least when Nixon fucked up, sure he tried to cover it up at first but eventually he resigned when he was caught in the act, sparing us from having to go through a lengthy and ugly Senate trial. But no, we’re dragging this out all the way, it looks like.

* * *

<Ashley>

It’s time for another Skype lesson with Sarah today.

“Hello there, Ashley!” she greets me cheerily, as the video comes up on my laptop.

I’ve probably never mentioned it, but… Sarah is totally gorgeous. I always felt a little flustered being around her back when we did our lessons in person. I always tell people that she’s like my “cool aunt,” but thankfully she’s not like, actually literally my aunt or else being this attracted to her would be weird. I guess I just really like blondes…

“Hey. What’s on the menu this week?” I ask.

However, she tilts her head sideways at me and says, “You seem troubled.”

“Yeah, well, a lot has been going on with me recently,” I explain.

“Want to talk about anything? You know, we don’t always have to be strictly professional. If you ever need help with any personal issues, I’m here for you. Don’t tell my other students I said that, though…”

I think about this for a second. I don’t know, it still seems inappropriate to talk about stuff like that with her. And how would Sarah even react to me being a gay, anyway? Actually… maybe I can take this opportunity to ask her something I’ve always wondered.

Sarah has never married, nor even been in any sort of relationship as far as I can remember. It’s a little unusual for someone her age. I always kind of wondered if she might be a lesbian herself. I know that in the old days, most people who were gay would either pose as straight or would simply not marry.

“Well… can I ask you something?” I say.

“Sure thing!”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but… why have you never gotten married?”

She chuckles a little. “Oh, I suppose I just _haven’t met the right person yet_.” She says that last part really sarcastically.

“You mean… you’ve never met someone you liked enough before?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’ve met many great people in my life, whom I consider friends. But… I’ve always kind of felt like I’m not really the marrying type.”

She doesn’t really elaborate on that, but I’d like to get to the bottom of this now.

“But in our culture, there is a heavy pressure put on people to get married- especially women. Do you ever feel any shame that you’re defying that?” I ask.

“I wouldn’t say I feel shame about it… but it is aggravating. I won’t deny that I am very… sought after by men. It’s a chore to have to constantly turn people down. I’ve had to get really good at noticing when people are trying to flirt so I can put a stop to it quickly.”

“Is it just men? Do you ever get hit on by other women?”

She giggles at this. “Occasionally. More so recently, given how the times are changing. Are you bringing this up because you’re trying to figure out if I’m also a lesbian?”

 _Also_ , she said. She already knows.

“Well… I was curious. So you’ve figured me out, huh?

“I do maintain regular contact with your dad, so I know more or less what’s happening.”

“Ah, okay. Thanks for mentioning that earlier.”

“Sorry. I didn’t want to bring it up if you weren’t willing to talk about it. And so that we can quit dancing around this question- I’m not a lesbian. You’re not the first person to ask me that, you know. I just am not really interested in dating in general.”

“So, do you think you might be asexual?”

She gives me a perplexed look. “A sexual what???”

“No, ‘asexual’ as one word. It means you’re not attracted to people of any gender.”

“I’ve never heard that word used before, except in science class. What are you kids going to come up with next?”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it. Trust me.”

She laughs at this. “Okay Ashley, I’ll take your word for it.”

“Actually, that reminds me,” I add, realizing something. “If you’re not interested in _dating_ , the actual term for that is ‘aromantic.’ ‘Asexual’ is specifically not being interested in sex. And so, being interested in neither would make you ‘asexual aromantic.’”

“Whatever you say, Ashley. Anyways… anything else you want to ask me?”

“Nope. Let’s get to the music now.”


	30. From Bad To Worse (September 18 Part 1)

<Zoe>

It’s a cloudy, mild morning today. It must have rained overnight, because the roads are wet.

Ashley has a dentist’s appointment this morning, which means that I am dropped off by myself. Not having Ashley around makes me feel a little bit nervous.

After I put away my instruments, I sit down in a chair near the front of the band hall. For the past few days, Ashley and I have been spending mornings in the library, but since she is not here, there’s not much point to going in there. Hmm… maybe I should go there anyway, though. The chairs there are comfortable…

“Zoe! You have to tell me. Is it true?”

Startled, I look up to see two people standing over me whom I’d rather not be talking to: Diana and Terra. Ever since… the thing happened, they’ve been giving me the cold shoulder during our classes, so I haven’t actually talked to them in the past week.

“Uh… is what true?” I ask.

There’s something funny going on. Diana is in one of her… gossipy moods, I can tell by how deeply she’s breathing.

“I just heard… Terra told me… Uh… You explain it,” Diana says disjointedly.

“Zoe, let me just say, that… I’m sorry. I really am,” Terra says. I feel my heart lighten. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t have gotten you out of this situation. I did try, but… it seems as if things are only getting worse for you.”

“Oh, well… I’ve been managing to survive,” I reply, though I’m a little confused as to what she’s talking about.

“But you shouldn’t have to live like this,” Terra continues. “You don’t need to be afraid. Your family… they want you to return home. Don’t worry, we’ll protect you.”

I’m really confused now. “You’ll protect me… from who? My family?”

Diana looks a little confused too, as she’s lost a bit of her gusto. “Zoe, you have to tell me if it’s true,” she urges me again. “About… what Ashley does to you.”

“What… does she do?” I ask.

“Well, due to recent events, we now all know about Ashley’s… violent temperament,” Terra explains. “I mean it- we’ll protect you. You don’t need to be afraid of her.”

My heart plummets again. “N-no. I’m not afraid of her.”

“Come on, Zoe. We’re trying to help,” Terra says, though her eyes narrow a little in anger.

“I don’t need help. Ashley… she loves me. And I love her. I’m not being forced to do anything.”

Terra draws herself to full height and looks down at me with a look of disdain. “So… it looks like she’s already got you brainwashed.”

“I’ve heard of this,” Diana frantically interjects, her eyes wild. “I think it’s called… Stockholm Syndrome!”

“Hey, what’s going on over here?” I hear a new voice say.

I see Anja walk up to the other two, and I feel immensely relieved. Even if she’s not as tough as Ashley is, it’ll be a major relief to have someone else on my side.

“We’re… trying to help Zoe out of her relationship,” Diana explains. “We think Ashley may be abusing her. But Zoe won’t admit it!”

Anja frowns and turns to me. “Zoe, is this true? Is Ashley abusing you?”

“No,” I say.

“And… do either of you have evidence on the contrary?” Anja asks. “If not… that kind of settles the matter.”

“You wanna know something? I don’t really care what you think,” Terra says to Anja, looking at with her such pure venom that even Diana looks a little nervous. “You know, this is really all your fault. You couldn’t just be content being a dyke loser, now could you?”

“D-don’t call her that,” I say meekly.

Terra turns towards me so quickly it’s uncanny. “What?”

“I said… don’t call her that,” I say again. The effect is sort of ruined by the fact that I’m cowering, though.

“Well. Looks like we have a whole little sect going. I tried to warn you. It’s a disease, Zoe. And guess what? I'm done. Until you come to your senses, I’m not going to stick up for you. You’re going to get what’s coming to you. Maybe it’s too late to save you, but at the very least, we can stop it from spreading!”

And with that, she storms off, leaving me sitting there in utter shock. Diana looks at me timidly.

“Zoe… please. Come back to us. You can put a stop to all of this right now,” Diana pleads. “Please, Zoe. You were like, my best friend.”

It’s too much. I start crying yet again.

“If I was your b-best friend… why? Why did you do it?” I ask in between sniffles.

“Zoe… I never wanted to hurt you,” she says.

“Well, you did. You sniveling _bitch_.”

Diana turns towards Anja, shocked. Anja looks absolutely livid; like she’s barely holding back from stabbing her.

“ _You_ started this. Not her. _You_ can put a stop to all of this right now. You’re the reason why Zoe got kicked out of her own god damn house, after all! But no. It’s too bad you’re too big of a coward.”

“Don’t… call me a coward, you _slut_!” Diana hisses back, going red in the face. “I’m just trying to help her by keeping her away from… creeps like you!” On that note, she quickly walks out of the band hall.

“Fucking bitch,” Anja spits. “Come on, Zoe, let’s go somewhere else.”

I don’t need her to tell me twice- the argument drew the eyes of everyone else in the band hall. Why does this keep happening to me? I just want to disappear…

I follow her to the back of the hall, and it looks like she’s about to head back into that practice room with all the percussion equipment. However, while we’re passing by Mr. Castro’s office, the door opens.

“Zoe. May I have a word?” Mr. Castro says.

“Oh, um… okay,” I reply.

“Step into my office,” he says gently.

I walk in and take a seat in one of his chairs. Though she wasn’t asked to, Anja follows me in and takes the other chair. Mr. Castro doesn’t seem to mind, however. He goes back behind his desk and also sits down.

“You seem to be doing a lot of crying recently,” he observes. “What’s been going on with you?”

Though he doesn’t say it judgmentally, I still feel a little guilty.

“Zoe has been dealing with a lot of bullying recently,” Anja explains in my stead.

Mr. Castro peers over the desk at me, looking a little stern. “Those two girls who you were talking to… are they the ones bothering you?”

“It’s… not just them,” I explain. “There’s… a lot of kids doing it.”

“Have you reported any of this to another teacher or a counselor?”

“I… don’t think that they really care, sir,” I say.

“Well, I do. I can’t really do anything about what’s happening outside of the band program… but I want you to be able to feel safe when you’re here. If anyone ever bothers you while you’re in the band hall, tell them that I told you to come to my office, and then come in here. Then, you can tell me about whatever just happened, and stay in here as long as you need to.”

“Oh… thank you very much!” I say, feeling a warm glow in my chest.

* * *

A few minutes later, we are walking into the library, as I was able to talk Anja into coming here. She, in turn, talked Nova into coming.

However, immediately after we walk in, Anja quickly comes to a stop, and I almost run into her.

“Um… okay, on second thought, let’s not be here right now.”

“Why is that?” I ask her.

She looks very uncomfortable. “Uh… well…”

“Come on, Anja, we’re already here!” Nova protests. “Can we just sit down?”

“Um… okay. Sorry,” Anja says sheepishly.

The library is pretty nice. It has a row of computers down the middle, with tables on either side for classwork, and in the back are a set of armchairs with a circular table, which is where Ashley and I usually go to study. Almost nobody is here, relative to its size. There is a boy using a computer whom I think is one of the trumpet players in band; the librarian, sitting behind the desk half-asleep; a couple of students on the right side of the library playing a board game; and a single, overweight Mexican girl sitting a couple of tables in front of our armchair spot, who is deeply immersed in a chemistry textbook.

We make our way to the back and take our respective seats. After Anja sits down, she shoots a nervous glance at the Mexican girl, but the girl doesn’t even seem to notice us.

“So… where’s Ashley today?” Anja asks, as Nova gets his game system back out.

“She’s at a dentist’s appointment,” I explain.

“Ah, that explains it. Anyways, I didn’t really buy that Ashley was being abusive towards you. She may be abrasive, but just being abrasive is a far shot from being a total scumbag, and I know that she’s made of better stuff than that.”

“Still, can you really blame the others for believing that?” Nova interjects. “Given how Ashley is.”

“Yes, I can, because there just isn’t any evidence for it,” Anja explains. “Still, I understand what you’re saying. People are irrational. There is a tendency for everyone to jump onto these hate mobs without trying to verify the claims with any actual facts. Especially if it’s someone who’s already disliked.”

She turns towards me. “Zoe, while we’re on the subject… is it true that Ashley broke someone’s nose the other day?”

“Yes, it is,” I admit. “There was a girl in the hallway who pushed me into a locker, and Ashley came up and… did that.”

“Hehe… I’m not too surprised. I’ve seen Ashley’s more violent side firsthand. After watching her utterly eviscerate some of those shadows…”

“Hey! Don’t talk about that here!” Nova cuts in.

“Oh… right,” Anja says, glancing again towards the Mexican girl. Thankfully, she hasn’t made any sign that she heard us.

“Um… what are you talking about?” I ask, confused by Anja’s comment. “Is this from some sort of video game you all play?”

“Uh… yeah, it’s a video game,” Nova explains in a thoroughly unconvincing way.

* * *

<Collin>

Uh oh… looks like I’m about to get busted.

I’m in the kitchen snitching a few cookies, when there’s a knock at the door. Oddly, both of my parents leave the master bedroom to go answer it.

I peek through the bar area to see that it’s the pastor of our church- Mr. Palmer. A tall, thin man, his graying hair buzz cut, yet imposing all the same.

“Good evening,” he says solemnly.

“Thank you for being here this evening,” Mom says. “Please, take a seat…”

This is a fairly normal occurrence around here. The pastor, as well as a bunch of other boring adults, will sometimes come by to talk to my parents about boring adult stuff. Usually I ignore it… but given recent events, I think it might be interesting to see what they’re about to talk about. Besides, it’s not like I can get back to my room without passing them, so either way my goose is cooked.

“So, tell me,” Mr. Palmer says. “Did you have any luck with your connection?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Dad replies. “We’re getting the cold shoulder at the moment.”

“And the police department?”

“They apparently can’t do anything else without evidence. And that Sheriff Hurt is quite the stubborn man. It looks like we may have more than one election to arrange soon.”

“Never mind that for now. You’ve done what you can. It’s a shame. I’m afraid something strange is happening to this town.”

“You ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie!” I hear the sounds of Dad putting up the footrest of a chair. “That girl’s parents… they’re just letting it all happen! And they call themselves conservatives. Well, I say they’re _wimps_.”

“Jared… I’m worried about my daughter,” Mom says. “You see it on the news all the time these days. People go that way… and they don’t come back.”

“Well, there are ways of bringing people out of that. But first things first- we need to focus on returning your daughter home.”

“What do you have in mind?” Dad asks. “What do you mean by ‘bringing people out of that’?”

“I do know of a place… faith based, of course. I know the couple who runs it, they’re very nice people. It’s a place that can treat people with that condition… people like your daughter.”

In a rush, I realize what he’s talking about. I completely lose my shit and walk straight out into the living room.

“Wait a minute! You’re talking about sending her to… conversion therapy!” I say.

“Collin, what on Earth are you doing out here?” My mom accosts, glaring at me.

“Mom, Dad, you can’t send her there!” I plead. “Those places… they mess people up! All the experts say that they commit human rights violations!”

“You mean that _liberals_ say that,” Dad contradicts. “You can’t trust a word out of those folk’s mouths.”

My mom stands up from the couch and looms over me. “Collin, do not speak up about matters that are best left for adults to decide. We are going to do whatever it takes to get your sister back, and we will do whatever is best for her.”

“If you want her back so badly, how about saying ‘I’m sorry’?” I argue. “Maybe actually listen to her, and take just a hint of responsibility?”

“Do not try to pin this on us!” Dad yells. “Do you think we wanted her to just run away from home like that?”

“’I will not have a homosexual in this house,’ you said. That’s a direct quote. How else was she supposed to interpret that?”

My mom has had enough, and she grabs me by the ear.

“Ow! Let me go!” I protest. I hate it when she does that!

“Collin, you need to _shut your mouth_ and go back to your room,” she lectures, her voice like acid. “And later, we are going to be having a serious talk about your behavior.”

She drags me back into my room. As she does, I catch a glimpse of Mr. Palmer’s face. It’s a look of disappointment… but there’s also a savage look in his eyes, which is unsettling.

Mom shoves me into my room and shuts the door in my face.

Well… on the bright side, I _totally_ got away with snitching those cookies.

But this whole thing is going from bad to worse. Actually, it was already worse. Now it’s _worser_.

I resist in the only way I currently can. I get onto my computer and pull up Skype.


	31. Point Of No Return (September 18 Part 2)

<Ashley>

Well, here I am again. Walking under a starless sky. Walking through my familiar town, made strange by its bulging veins and jarring colors. Walking the same route that we drive every Sunday- or, more accurately, the one that we _used to_ drive. Knowing that dark fog surrounding us conceals inevitable dangers. But we’re almost done for today, so surely we can survive whatever is still coming for us.

I guess it was almost a month ago that I walked this exact same path, except then, I did it scared, alone, helpless, clothed in pajamas, and with nothing but my fists for self-defense. This time, I walk with…

“…I mean, recently there have been a wave of Tea Party judges elected across the state. You should know, we fought one of them,” Anja prattles on. “They have recently been responsible for giving too much power to landlords. We already kind of had a problem with that. San Marcos is infamous nation-wide for college students getting fucked over by landlords.”

“Okay, nice theory,” I reply. “A couple of nitpicks, though- Pavia has been in office for a while, way before the early 2010s Tea Party wave. Second- I don’t understand the correlation you’re drawing here between deficit hawking and the rights of property renters.”

“Come on, Ashley! Don’t be naïve. You know the real reason why these people want to cut government spending.”

“Yeah, I do. It’s so that you and I won’t have to be burdened with a fifty trillion-dollar national debt by the time we’re the age of our parents.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What’s your big fixation on that, anyway?”

“Well, more deficit spending means more money available for lenders; aka Wall Street, whom liberals weren’t super happy with last I checked; faster inflation, higher interest rates, and eventually a national security risk as foreign adversaries will start buying up our debt to use as leverage. We need to start dealing with this now, because by the turn of the decade, the baby boomers will be retiring, which means that Social Security is going to be running at even more of a loss than it is now.”

“Yes, well, first of all, if the money is managed properly and is aimed at helping the working class, the benefits of the program will outweigh the negative side effects, creating a net positive for poor Americans- unless the deficit spending is more giveaways to the super rich or corporate welfare. Second, the current rate of inflation is… AAARGH!”

That is the scream that can only mean one thing: there are wasps amok. Sure enough, I see three of them coming from my left.

“Finally, something to smash!” Nova shouts, actually sounding relieved.

“You ought to have been paying attention just then, Nova,” I tell him. “Someday we’ll all be voting age. There’s more to life than just video games, you know.”

“Don’t make me zap you, bitch!” Nova retorts, branding Mjölnir at me threateningly.

On that note, we get into battle positions. By this point, we’ve pretty much figured out some solid team strategies for dealing with each different type of enemy. Wasps go down the fastest when you get up close and personal, but you have to keep your wits about you, as those fuckers are fast. Since Anja and Ted don’t really have a great up-close game, they hang back and provide ranged support. (Anja also hangs back partially because she’s a wuss.) Nova and I go in with our respective melee weapons. In this case, we’re able to take them out pretty easily between just the two of us. Anja only has to use her wind attack once to disorient them so they don’t attack our backs after we take out the first one. I have to hand it to Nova- he’s fairly decent at this. He has good reflexes when his head is in the game.

After dealing with the wasps, however, something isn’t right. I swear I feel something rumbling…

“Ha! No insect stands a chance against us,” Nova brags.

I see something running up to us from behind him… it looks like an enormous black bear.

“Nova! Get out of the way!” I shout at him frantically.

He frowns at me. “What? Why?”

The bear promptly knocks him aside and into a tree.

Yeah… “When his head is in the game” isn’t all the time, unfortunately.

“Wow, look at that!” Anja shouts. “I guess I’m finally going to become a true Texan and use my right to _bear_ arms!” She takes aim at the bear.

“Anja, I’m pretty sure you’ve made that joke before,” I say. “Anyways, don’t get a trigger finger, I want to do something first.”

Normally, when we run into larger enemies, I like to weaken them up with my weird light attack, but… I don’t think I have one of those in me right now, I’ve had to use a lot of magic today. Thankfully, I unlocked another move last week which accomplishes a similar purpose.

I take my sword and swing it behind me, switching it between my arms a few times. I do this so quickly, that it becomes imbued with some sort of golden aura. Then, I send my sword crashing through the enemy, slicing apart the very fabric of space-time itself. It doesn’t use any magic, but there is still a drawback: I’m left feeling exhausted immediately afterwards.

Once I’m done with my attack, Anja takes advantage of the few seconds that the bear is stunned to open fire, slowly closing in on it. It seems to do a pretty decent damage. I start creeping up behind, hoping to jump up onto it while it’s focused on Anja and slice its neck.

However, the bear does something odd. It stands up on its hind legs and then slams its whole body into the ground. It sends a shockwave through the ground that knocks me straight off my feet. My head hits the ground, and I lose consciousness.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, I wake up to Anja using her healing move on me. She’s looked better- she has a large, bleeding cut on one of her cheeks.

“How did you get cut?” I ask. “You have a gun as your weapon!”

“You’re welcome!” she replies cheerily. She reaches out her hand helps pull me to my feet.

I survey the rest of the team. Nova doesn’t look physically hurt, but he is panting and sweating. Ted has several scuff marks on his shell.

“So, did you win against the bear?” I ask.

“Yeah, but he was… pant… a tough son of a bitch,” Nova responds.

“And by the way… wind attacks do not affect bears,” Anja comments. “I got to learn that the hard way.” I am only barely able to bite back my sarcastic reply.

Ted uses his party-wide healing move on us. Anja’s cut stitches itself shut right in front of my eyes.

“Team… we’ve made a decent amount of progress as a team since the last palace,” I declare. “But yet… there is still work to be done. C’mon, let’s continue on.”

* * *

We finally arrive at the First Baptist Church, and I am very startled to find it looking quite different than it did when I first awakened my Persona here. It doesn’t even look much like a building anymore; its walls and ceiling have become soft, fleshy, and pulsating.

“Well, that’s… utterly disgusting,” Anja remarks. “I’m guessing this is _not_ what it looked like before?”

“No, not at all,” I reply. “I have yet to see anything like this. Got any ideas, Ted?”

“I don’t think that this transformation happened overnight,” he comments.

“Hey! There’s something on top of it!” Nova shouts, pointing.

I squint my eyes, at first expecting him to just have seen the pulsating… but sure enough, I can just barely make out a figure on top.

I recognize the outline of a cape…

“It’s her! It’s the Dark Trooper!” I tell the others.

“Uh… the Dark Trooper?” Nova questions. “You mean like the class from Star Wars Battlefront II?”

I ignore him. “She’s the one who ambushed me after we got separated at Pavia’s… Let’s try and see if we can get up there and ambush her back.”

“Uh, Ashley… I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” Anja says.

I look back up just in time to see a flash of electricity- she teleported away already.

I let out a sigh. “Oh, well that’s great,” I say. “Well, if there are no other immediate dangers, I’m going to take this opportunity to report everything we’ve seen today to Lucy.” I pull out my phone to call her.

“Be my guest. I’m going to rest my legs…” Anja says, sitting down onto the floor.

I start the call, and am greeted with, “Hello there, Ashley.”

“Uh, hi. We have finished sweeping the town like you suggested. We’ve found a few points of interest.

“First of all: We went to the high school and examined it from the outside. It looks like one would expect: the whole building is obscured by dense jungle. We still have no clue who it could belong to, but given that we’re imprisoned there five days a week, we should be able to figure it out eventually.

“Second: We actually think we found a completely different palace. It’s an area that usually is an apartment complex, but now appears as some sort of gothic mansion. Anja has a theory that it might belong to the manager of the complex- but we don’t know that yet.

“Other than those two, we haven’t found any other palaces yet, but we did find something… different. I went back to my church like you suggested, and… it’s all pink and fleshy now. It’s like a huge, pulsating organ. Have you ever seen anything like this?”

“Uh… it looks like what now? A fleshy organ?” Lucy inquires. “No, I have never seen anything like that. I guess it just goes to show that even though I’ve spent decades of my life in this world, it still contains many mysteries. I suppose that’s the nature of research. Is the portal to the SR still inside?”

“Actually… we haven’t checked that yet. We’ll do that right after this. There’s one more thing- the Dark Trooper was just here. She teleported away shortly after we walked up.”

“Shit! It really was a stroke of bad luck that you got onto Moloch’s radar so quickly. If she didn’t try to fight you or confront you… I need a while to think about this. But that’s… not good. Would it be possible to take your posse inside your house with you?”

“Uh… probably, yeah. Why?”

“It’ll make sense later- but basically, I need to get them close enough to my journal to do something.”

“Do I need to bring Ted too?” I ask.

“Well, does he have a smartphone?”

“Uh… no.”

“Then I think it’ll be okay if only your human friends come along. Talk to you later.” She hangs up.

“Okay then… guys, you are formally invited to visit my house after this,” I tell Anja and Nova. I look down at Ted. “She said that you need to have a smartphone, so…”

“No matter,” Ted responded. “I have no patience for pleasantries.”

“Uh… okay. I guess it all works out, then.”

I turn towards the church. “Let’s check and see if the portal is still there, and then we’ll head back.”

“Ew… we have to actually go _in_ there?” Anja whines.

“I bet the walls and stuff in there are slimy!” Nova points out. “I wouldn’t want to slip and fall.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll do it myself!” I growl at them. “But for the record, you are both pussies.”

“Tsk… bitch, shut the fuck up!” Nova protests. “You know what? Fuck you. I’ll do it.”

“No, I’ll do it. You never saw it before, so you won’t know what to look for,” I argue. And so, I head inside the church, this time going in through the front like I normally would’ve.

Nova is right- everything is slimy. The whole building looks just like the outside, and the slight pulsation makes it hard to walk through. I step very carefully through the entrance hall.

Jeez, what happened to this place? I remember back to how it looked the first time I was here. I do remember there being more veins inside than there were anywhere else… perhaps Ted is right, and that was the early stages of this building becoming a giant, human heart?

I manage to tiptoe into the sanctuary, where I see that the portal is indeed still there… sort of. It seems to have a different property- it has lost its shimmer. Instead of looking like a wall, or any sort of solid substance at all, and now just looks like… a void. I’m curious as to what would happen if I tried to touch it again, but I don’t want to bother walking all the way across the sanctuary to find out, so I leave.

“Okay… it isn’t there anymore. I think,” I announce to the others when I return to them. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Alright, lead the way,” Anja says, getting to her feet. “I was saying before… the current rate of inflation is considered acceptable for maintaining a stable economy. I don’t care what the gold bugs say, I think that everything is going to be fine if we keep the course with the Federal Reserve.”

I sigh. Well, at least she makes better points now than when we first met, I suppose. Still, this is gonna be a long walk back...

* * *

After we finally return to the real world, Anja is kind enough to drive us to my house, though it’s only like less than a block away from where we entered. I can’t believe that it’s not nighttime yet. The passage of time in the Metaverse plays weird tricks on me. However, it thankfully doesn’t seem to actually throw off my circadian rhythms.

We arrive and walk in through the front door. My mom is in the kitchen, cooking, and my dad is reading in the living room.

“Oh, well look at this!” Mom calls to us, setting down her pan and walking over to greet us. “Hello! I’m Ashley’s mom. As you can probably guess. Let’s see… I’ve met Anja already. And you are…”

“Nova,” Nova mutters. He’s not making eye contact and is instead staring at the wall awkwardly.

“Nova, huh? Nice to meet you!”

“Is it okay if I bring these two in here?” I ask her. “We wanted to get out of the heat for a little while.”

“No problem! Hmm… do you two need dinner?” Mom asks.

“What are you having?” Anja inquires.

“Bacon and egg omelets,” my mom explains.

“Breakfast for dinner! I like it,” Anja says, grinning. “Okay, I’ll just have to text my dad and let him know.

“Where’s Zoe?” I ask.

“She should be in her room,” Mom says. “I haven’t seen her since you left.”

“Alright. Follow me,” I tell Anja and Nova.

I walk into the side hallway, turn towards Zoe’s room, and knock on the door. “Hey Zoe. The gang’s all here. Want to join us?”

“Um… in a m-minute,” she calls back. Something’s wrong. I can tell by her voice.

“Can I come in by myself?” I ask.

“Y-yes.”

“Wait here,” I tell the other two. I open the door.

Zoe is currently sitting on her knees on the bed, staring at her phone, and trembling slightly. She’s still wearing the shirt she wore during band and doesn’t have any pants on. It looks like she got halfway through changing into new clothes and was interrupted.

“What’s going on?” I ask, sitting on the bed next to her.

She hands me her phone, which is showing a recent messaging conversation between her and her brother Collin.

I read through it, and… oh boy.

“Okay… wow,” I say. “Get yourself dressed, and we’ll discuss this as a group in my room.”

* * *

<Zoe>

“Your brother is right, you do _not_ want to go to one of those places,” Anja is explaining to me. “They’re actually illegal in California and New Jersey. I think they should be illegal everywhere. The conversation around this all started when…”

It’s hard to listen to her. My heart is beating faster than is comfortable. My vision is blurry.

Around me, Ashley is sitting on the bed next to me and is furiously scribbling in that grimy journal and not talking. Anja is sitting backwards in Ashley’s desk chair, ranting away. Nova is on the other end of the bed, just sitting in place and fidgeting, seemingly not knowing what to contribute.

“…And the bill was signed into law by Governor Chris Christie.” Suddenly, Anja stopped. She makes eye contact with me, and her expression softens, the previous fervor she had melting away.

“Zoe, you look really anxious about all of this. Here…” Anja hops out of the chair and starts rummaging around Ashley’s desk. After a few seconds, she hands me a pencil and sheet of notebook paper.

“Zoe, I want you to just take a minute and write down… things that you know are true. Things about your surroundings, for example.”

I look down at the paper and start slowly writing.

“My name is Zoe Parker. I’m the daughter of Abram and Marie Parker. I have three brothers: Patrick, Derrick, and Collin. I’m currently sitting on Ashley’s bed. Her bed sheets are pure white. Her room is fairly organized. The walls are tan and have a bumpy texture. She has a chest of drawers that looks old and ornate on the other side of the room. On the other wall are Ashley’s French horn, her trumpet, and her black Manhasset music stand, that has music piled onto it.”

I take a deep breath and look up from the paper.

“Feel any better?” Anja asks me kindly.

“A little,” I say. I still feel anxious, but I at least feel more focused than before. And now that I’m focused again, I suddenly realize that…

“Um… I’ll be right back,” I say, leaving to use the restroom.

* * *

<Nova>

As soon as Zoe steps out of the room, Ashley suddenly slams the journal shut. “Anja. Nova. Phones.”

“What about them?” I question.

“Give them to me.”

Uh, okay then. I don’t know what the fuck she’s on, but I give her my phone anyway since she seems serious about this.

Ashley holds the phones near that journal she was writing in for a few seconds, and then tosses them back to us.

“Um, okay,” Anja says. “What was that all about?”

“Lucy thinks that Moloch and/or his cohort may try to attack someone in one of our families to keep us down,” Ashley explains. “She gave both of you the app so you can protect them without having to wait for me to get there.”

“Wait a second, hold on,” Anja frets, now looking a bit panicky. “How can that even happen? Nobody in our families have palaces or personas or anything.”

“There are other ways of hurting someone using the Metaverse,” Ashley explains. “They’re just rather more… complicated. If you’re trying to do good in the world, it’s usually best to just focus on fighting those who have palaces. If you’re trying to do evil… all options are on the table.”

“How will we know if someone comes to our place in the Metaverse?” I ask, seriously freaked out by this new information.

Ashley flips the journal around and shows this pink gem on the cover, which looks exactly like the one in her armor. “I didn’t realize this, because I always keep this thing hidden away, but the gem has the ability to detect Metaversal activity. It will shine very brightly if someone is messing around in the area. When this happens, I will call your phones and we will all enter in unison. But this means that you all have to keep your ringers on while you’re sleeping.”

“That’s okay,” Anja says. “Nobody ever messages me other than you three, so it’s not like I’m going to be kept up by my notifications.”

“Also… another thing,” Ashley continues. “This situation with Zoe’s parents is looking like it may become a big problem for us. Lucy thinks that this may not be a coincidence. She thinks that the weird state of the Metaverse version of the Baptist Church is a sign that it may have become some different type of palace. However, we are not sure, so we need to gather more information.”

“So, who do you think it belongs to?” Anja asks.

“That’s the thing- we don’t know. For now, we should see if tensions escalate further. However, I think it is time that we start seriously planning for the possibility of having to do another infiltration soon.”

There’s a brief pause as this ultimatum hangs in the air. After a moment, Anja breaks the silence by saying, “If that’s the case, I think it’s time we spill the beans on all of this stuff to Zoe.”

“Uhh… why?” I question.

“Because it now directly involves her,” she states simply. “It’s only fair.”

Ashley shakes her head. “I don’t want to involve her in this. She’s too innocent to be fighting shadows and evil people.”

“If we’re going to intervene on her behalf, she needs to be given the choice to help us,” Anja insists. “If we go into that church palace… or whatever, it’ll be her friends and relatives that we’ll find inside, after all.”

Ashley doesn’t respond. She just sighs and puts her head in her hands.

“Just promise us you’ll tell her what she needs to know tonight, okay?” Anja asks persistently. “Nova and I are her friends, too. We’ll all be there with her, to make sure nothing happens. Ted will, too.”

“Okay. Fine,” Ashley agrees, though she looks pissed about it.

And then, silence. There’s a very awkward pause in which Ashley just kind of sulks while Anja breathes deeply with her eyes closed. Damn, as if focusing on school shit wasn’t hard enough, now I have to worry about my house being attacked by supernatural people? Why has my life suddenly become a JRPG? Well, let me tell you, it’s _not_ fun when it happens in real life. I just kind of want to… you know… save and quit… play something else…

The moment is interrupted by a shout from the next room. “Dinner’s ready!” Ashley’s mom calls to us.


	32. Alone Together (September 19)

<Ashley>

Almost to fifth period biology. Outside the door, I see some random guy and girl who are about to enter in front of me.

The guy holds the door open and slyly says, “Ladies first,” letting the girl enter before him. The girl giggles and does so. Then, after she does, the dude, without even looking at me, enters and slams the door behind him.

Fucking prick. What a disrespectful piece of shit. I have a mind to tape him to the floor and perform a live in-class dissection. Of course, I’m not actually going to do that, because I don’t need another lecture from Mom.

So I just take a loud breath and go through the door. I take my seat near the back at a table by myself as usual, not caring about how much noise I make. I see a few heads turning towards me, but I ignore them.

“Okay class, today we’re going to be talking about the circulatory system,” Coach Everheart begins. As if we didn’t already learn this shit in 7th grade science class.

“The circulatory system is basically how blood travels throughout your body,” he explains. I sure would like to drown this classroom in blood. Fuck all of these assholes.

“All blood flow travels to and from the heart,” he rambles on. There’s nothing in my heart right now but burning rage.

I mean, why would anything else be there? A lot of people think that everyone is out to get them, and those people are usually crazy. But I think that I actually have a pretty legitimate case here. Let’s review the facts.

  * My classmates are out to get me.
  * The teachers and school staff are out to get me.
  * It’s a miracle that the fucking _government_ isn’t out to get me. If we hadn’t done what we did to Pavia, my parents might have been dragged into a phony kidnapping trial.
  * LITERAL DEMONS are out to get me. And they are doing so extremely aggressively, to the point of spying on my friends and I and possibly planning to target our families.
  * SATAN HIMSELF is most likely out to get me at this point. He’s out to get a lot of people, but I’m pretty sure he’s literally out to get ME SPECIFICALLY.
  * Fuck my life.
  * Fuck everything.



Nothing to do but to just keep on scribbling notes, though. I’ll get a rare moment of happiness tonight, that is if that doesn’t somehow get fucked up too. But for now, just gotta get through the daily business of misery.

* * *

<Zoe>

As if life wasn’t crazy enough already, Ashley told me… a lot of things last night which I’m still sort of in shock from. She talked about how she, Nova and Anja had found out how to access supernatural powers… Well, it does explain why those three have been hanging out so much recently. Still, I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t seen it myself; she briefly used some phone app to bring me into this Meta-place. And then, she went on about how we need to go there and use it to change our church?

You’d think that it’d make it even more difficult to focus on school after being told of these… indescribable and rather frightening things. But I’ve actually found that holding this new secret information has made me more determined to act normal while at school.

I don’t know what exactly I’m going to do with this new information; I’m still trying to process all of it. On one hand, the supernatural nature of these activities makes it seem like it’s something wicked, which I should avoid… but Ashley also swears that it can be used as a force for good. And the most important thing I can do for right now is trust in her.

To get away from all the stress, though, we decided we’re going to have a date night tonight! This makes me very happy, and it goes a long way to help me make it through the day without being overwhelmed by all the schoolwork, mean classmates, and impending supernatural doom. I suppose I live for the simple things in life.

As usual, Ashley and I meet briefly in between our respective biology classes.

“Hey. Hanging in there?” She asks me.

“Yeah. I’m staying focused as well as I can,” I reply. “I’m looking forward to tonight.” I can’t help but to grin to myself as I think about it.

“Me too.”

It’s then that I notice it. Something seems a little weird about her today. Something about the look in her eyes…

“Ashley... are you upset about something?” I ask timidly.

“Well, I’m actually upset about _almost everything_ ,” she answers bluntly.

I bite my lip nervously. That’s not really an answer I particularly wanted to hear. “Awh… just please, don’t get into any more fights, okay?” I urge her.

“I’ll try,” she says flatly. She gives me a quick hug, and then is off to her next class. I make my way into the room for mine.

* * *

<Ashley>

After walking away from biology, something unexpected happens as I am approaching the staircase. A vaguely familiar looking boy with a lean build and glasses makes eye contact with me, after seemingly having waited in that spot.

“Hey, Ashley,” he says awkwardly.

I don’t say anything. I just look at him.

“Um… you probably don’t remember me, but we’re in the same English class…”

“What do you want?” I ask. My next class is on the other side of campus.

“I, umm, do you… would you like to go to Homecoming tomorrow with me?”

He immediately recoils slightly at the look I give him.

“Is this some kind of fucking joke?” I ask.

“Uhhh… Noo? I’m being genuine…”

I’m not buying that. As if what’s going on between Zoe and I isn’t already known about school-wide. “Please, just… get out of my way. **Now,** ” I tell him.

I am satisfied to see that he gives me a fearful look and does so, and I head to sixth period. Some people think they’re so funny…

* * *

<Zoe>

It’s much later in the day. All of our classes and rehearsals are done, and the sun is setting. Ashley and I are going out for a while, as we had planned the previous day. It’s traditional for dates to happen at restaurants or movie theaters, but Ashley thought it would be nice for us to get away from other people for a while. So instead, we’re walking to a nearby park. It’s only about a ten-minute walk away from our house.

“Um… Ashley? Are we even supposed to be out here this late?” I ask her as we arrive at the park.

“Who cares? What are they gonna do?” She answers. And with that, I suppose the matter is settled.

The park is pretty simple; it’s a river with a dirt path running alongside it. Still, it looks serene and beautiful at night. We walk past the river, our reflections showing in the water by the moonlight. On the other side of the river, we can see fireflies flying about. Unusually for this time of year, a number of pretty pink flowers float at the surface of the water.

I try to figure out what she’s thinking- but it’s hard to do. Sometimes trying to read her is like trying to read a brick wall.

“What were you upset about earlier today?” I ask her tentatively.

“Oh…” she shakes her head. “Honestly, it could’ve been anything. I didn’t exactly sleep the best last night, so I’ve been irritable. Something about the idea that I might have to wake up at any time and fuck someone up doesn’t facilitate a great mindset for sleeping.”

This is more or less what I guessed. Now that she seems much calmer than she did earlier today, I decide to press the topic.

“I know… I heard you up at 2 AM,” I say. “You were in the bathroom for a while.”

“Well, sometimes it helps to bring my hormones into better balance, if you know what I mean.”

“I… actually don’t know what you mean,” I admit. What on earth could she be talking about?

“Don’t worry about that, then. Wait, why were _you_ up at 2 AM?”

“I… I’ve been having nightmares recently,” I confess.

She turns and locks eyes with me. “Let’s sit down for a moment.”

I nod in agreement.

She walks me over to a small patch of trees right by the river side. In the middle of the trees are a small wooden bench, as well as a large rock that it looks like someone might be able to sit on. We sit down on the bench, and Ashley takes my hand.

“Do you mind sharing about the nightmares you’ve been having?” she asks.

“I don’t mind.” I take a deep breath. “They’re mostly the same thing over and over again. The police come to our house in the middle of the night, break down my door and put me in handcuffs. Then, they take me back to my parents, who yell things at me and tell me I’m never allowed to leave the house ever again.

“Last night, it ended differently than usual. Some doctor came into the house and said that there was only one cure for my condition. He got out a hammer and drove a nail straight into my head… and that’s when I woke up.”

Ashley seems to be looking deeply into my eyes. “Hmm. That’s pretty frightening.”

“It is,” I say. I close my eyes for a moment and focus the warmth of her hand. Then, I suddenly get curious about something.

I open my eyes. “Have you ever had recurring nightmares?” I ask her.

Ashley takes a deep breath, and stretches out her posture a little, extending her relatively long legs.

“I’m not sure if this exactly qualifies as a _nightmare_ , but… In seventh grade, I did have this really odd recurring dream,” she explains. “It'd start with me being high up in a tree by the river. Aiko, my ex-best friend, would be with me. I’d tell her I wanted to dive into the river. However, right before I would jump, she would shake the branch I was jumping from, and I’d stumble and fall straight to the ground. But I wouldn’t actually hit the ground. I’d just sort of fall through blackness for a while. It was very reminiscent of that one scene from Toy Story 2, when Woody thinks that Andy is going to throw him away because his arm is torn.

“Anyways, after falling for a while, I’d somehow end up being at our church. It’d be like the first time I ever went, the day we met. Except I could somehow manipulate time, and sort of float around through space without being bound by the walls. I kept on saying things to people to see how they’d react, and then just rewinding time if they got mad at me.

“These dreams never ended the same way. For example, one time, the dream ended with both of your parents loudly talking about how I was such a fine young lady and I’d be a great friend for you, all the while you just sat there and looked at me with a terrified expression. There was a different time that the dream ended with my parents whisking me out of church, because apparently my mom was pregnant with a new child, or something like that.

“However, there was one ending that’s always stuck in my memory more than any other. One time, I walked up to you, and suddenly the church’s organ played a really loud C Major chord. I pulled a grenade out of my pocket, and said, ‘666 is no longer alone; he’s getting out the marrow in your backbone.’ Then, I pulled the pin, and there was a brief flash of the explosion before I woke up.”

Wow. This utterly surreal description leaves me very confused.

“What you said to me in the dream… what does that mean?” I ask her.

“Oh, it’s a line from a song I like. I have no clue why I said it then, though.”

For a few minutes, we sit there in silence, looking out upon the still water. To my surprise, she eventually starts talking again without being prompted.

“It reminds me of another dream I had near the start of this year. Us two and a bunch of random girls from band were walking through the woods on some sort of field trip. At one point, they all just randomly turned around, pushed me to the ground, and started repeatedly kicking me until I started bleeding this weird, glittery purple substance that stained my skin. You didn’t kick me, but you also didn’t stop them. You just kind of looked at me sadly. Anyways, the other girls then pushed me into a hole in the ground, and then just left me there. The dream cut to me being inside of a cage at a dog kennel. My parents were outside the cage, looking in at me and trying to figure out if I was actually their daughter or not. I tried to tell them I was, but I couldn’t talk, so I had to resort to making hand gestures at them.”

“Ashley… why are your dreams so weird?” I ask, not able to help myself.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I never eat sugary food before bedtime or anything.”

Another moment passes. The sun is gone now; the night is out. I finally decide to say it.

“I know it’s probably stupid, but… what if my dream happens in real life? Or something like it, at least?” I ask.

“I promise you, that’s not going to happen. You haven’t done anything wrong. The police aren’t going to come hunt you down and put you in cuffs.”

“But… remember what almost happened to Nova? Couldn’t my parents do that?”

She turns her eyes up and starts looking at the sky. “Well, they could try. But the cases are very different here, so they probably won’t. You’re legally considered a runaway until my parents are able to get legal custody over you. So if your parents wanted to make you come home by force, they probably would’ve done it already.”

This confuses me again. I start unconsciously knocking my knees together. “That doesn’t make any sense. They told the pastor that they wanted me home. Why won’t they just come get me, if they can already do so?”

“To put it in plain terms, because your parents are full of shit. My theory is, they’re not as concerned about where you are as much as they are about saving face at this point. If they came over to get you back, that would mean they’d have to admit that they did something wrong. Nobody in the community would buy that a goody-two-shoes girl from a rich family with no prior disciplinary issues ran away from home one day for no reason. By spreading this narrative that you’re actually being coerced into staying with us, or being indoctrinated into some sort of weird cult, that gives them the ability to absolve themselves of responsibility.”

This analysis is very disheartening. Unfortunately, her theory makes way too much sense to ignore, given how my parents usually are.

“So you’re saying that… they’re not gonna come get me, because… they don’t want me. They just say that they want me back so they don’t look like bad guys.”

“Essentially, yes. They’re not trying to get you home. They’re just trying to stir up a big fuss so they can tell the others that they tried.”

“But what about that stuff Collin said about… conversion therapy? Is that just part of their story?”

She pauses for a moment before answering, now turning her head down and staring at the water. “You know… I don’t know. Now that you mention it, I have to wonder if they’re plotting something, now that that option is available to them…”

Part of the wave of terror I feel must have shown on my face, because she quickly says, “But we’re not gonna let that happen, no matter what. My parents are proud second amendment supporters, after all.”

This makes me feel a little better. “You’re really going to try and protect me, no matter what?”

“Absolutely. Even if I have to _actually_ kidnap you…”

Suddenly, she swoops down on me and grabs me around the waist. “I got you. There’s no getting away…”

“Eek! Somebody help me!” I say, giggling.

She pulls me towards her, so that I’m sitting in her lap. She’s looking down at me with an odd look; it’s like an intense expression, but also somehow fun at the same time. “Nobody’s coming for you. You’re mine,” she says. My face feels really hot for some reason…

For a while, we just sit together like that. She starts brushing my hair with her fingers again, and I just sit there and enjoy it, melting into her.

After a while, she stops, gently lowers her hand to my shoulder, and then sighs. “In all seriousness. If your parents were to actually try something like that... we’d be looking for an unconventional solution to our problems,” she explains.

I gulp. “You mean… going back to that strange world?”

“Yes. I’d really rather not bring you there, but we may have no choice.”

Something seems weird to me about the way she says this.

“Why don’t you want me to go in?” I ask.

“Because, Zoe… that place is dangerous, and it can be extremely scary. I would rather not have anything happen to you.”

“Ashley… I don’t want anything to happen to you either,” I tell her. “I get so sick with worry at the thought of you guys going in there…”

“Don’t worry about us. We can take care of ourselves.”

I shake my head. “Ashley, you don’t get it. If it’s what needs to be done… I’ll go with you guys in there,” I state. “I know it’ll be scary… but I’d rather be there with you, helping you. I will… try my best to do so.”

Ashley seems troubled. She closes her eyes and puts her free hand on her face for a while. But then, she says, “You’re a great girl, Zoe.”

I blush. “Th-thank you,” I say. “Ashley… I really want you to know that you don’t have to do this alone anymore.”

“I’m not doing it alone,” she counters. “I have Ted, and Anja, and Nova…”

“I don’t mean just that. I want to know when you’re hurting… I want to be here for you.”

“Oh, Zoe. You have enough woes right now without also having to deal with mine…”

I shake my head at her again. “No, Ashley. That’s not how this is supposed to work. We’re in this together.”

We lock eyes again. She puts her hand back into my hair. “I love you, Zoe,” she says.

“I love you too, Ashley.” I feel a sudden rush of emotion and latch onto her with both arms.

She embraces me back and lowers our head so that our lips touch. I feel something odd… like a sort of electric shock going through my body. I pull away in surprise.

I look up to her, to see a rare smile on her face. “That one was good. You’re getting better at this,” she says.

I smile back at her. We lean in to kiss again.

And that’s what we did for quite a while. I don’t know how long it was that we did. It felt like it could’ve been thirty seconds, or it could’ve been two hours.

At some point, we are unfortunately interrupted by a voice from the darkness.

“You two?” It says. It’s a man’s voice, that I know I’ve heard before. “What are you doing out here?”

I jolt and pull away, while instinctively clinging harder to Ashley and looking out in the direction of the voice. I’m surprised to see that it’s none other than Mr. Castro, our band director.

“I might ask you the same question,” Ashley replies, sheltering me with her arms and coming off as surprisingly standoffish.

Mr. Castro gives us a strange look. “No kids should be out here this late at night. You ought to head home.”

For a moment, I wonder if Ashley is going to argue with him. Ultimately, she stands up, pulling me up as she does.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Don’t want to make Mom and Dad worry,” she says. I’m relieved that she isn’t trying to fight him.

“Alright. Have a good evening, you two,” he says.

So the two of us take off into the darkness. As we are departing, I look behind us at Mr. Castro, who is standing around as if he’s waiting for something.

“What is he doing out here?” I ask Ashley curiously.

“Well, we can probably scratch off ‘Klan meeting’ from the list of theories,” she says. “It’s for the best, anyways. We better get some sleep tonight. Big day tomorrow.”

I giggle, knowing her well enough to know she’s being sarcastic.

The school scheduled her to do her detention during the Homecoming Dance. They probably thought this would serve as an especially harsh punishment, but that sort of backfired. Ashley assured me that she had “No interest in going to some stupid ****ing dance anyway.” Since she’s going to the school anyway, I’m going to go ahead and hang out at the dance since Anja and Nova are going.

* * *

<Ashley>

At about 1 AM, I hear someone opening my door. Though it’s almost pitch black, I can barely make out Zoe’s figure moving towards the bed. She seems to be trembling slightly

“I’m awake,” I tell her, slightly hoarse. “What’s up?”

“I had another nightmare. Is it okay if… I join you for a little bit?”

I shift over a little in my bed and roll back the covers for her. She climbs in and snuggles up right beside me, putting her head on my chest. As usual.

I wonder if my parents would be angry if they found us in bed together. Ah, who am I kidding? I don’t really care. This is honestly pretty nice. I just…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m the light blinking at the end of the road; blink back to let me know.


	33. Now What? (September 20)

<Anja>

Hey again. Feels like it’s been a little while.

Since last time, the drama has thickened. Zoe’s ex-friends have doubled down on their attempts to harass her, now making up lies and Ashley and Zoe’s relationship. Zoe’s parents are considering Operation Unthinkable. Moloch and his mysterious crony may be planning a direct attack on us. And yet, amidst the chaos, life continues on, including the Homecoming Dance!

I picked out a simple, sleeveless purple dress for the occasion. Nova doesn’t look half bad, all things considered. He’s wearing a white button-up with tan slacks. The clothes are in good condition, but they seem a little big on him. The sleeves of the shirt go a little past his wrist, and his pants are a little on the baggy side. Maybe he’s borrowing an outfit from his dad?

“Hey, looking good,” I tell him.

“Thanks. You too,” he replies flatly. He looks bored already.

“We don’t have to be here for long,” I tell him, already feeling a little bad for dragging him out here. “I know you’re not much of a party animal.”

“Where are those other two?” he asks, looking around. “Oh, here they come.”

I look in the direction of his gaze, towards the front entrance. Zoe is dressed in a modest, periwinkle lace dress that exhibits a slightly regal quality. She looks super adorable in it. The shade contrasts perfectly with her blonde hair and rosy cheeks. Ashley, since she’s going to detention, is just wearing her usual getup, her school backpack over her shoulder.

Before coming to where Nova and I are, Ashley squeezes her hand, and then breaks off to walk down the hall leading away from the cafeteria.

“Nice dress,” a random girl says to Ashley in a mocking voice.

With frightening speed, Ashley halfway lunges towards her, only to pull away and regain her composure in the blink of an eye. The girl flinches and cowers behind her arms, looking rather foolish. Ashley strides away, the ghost of a smile on her face. I giggle at this, which makes the other girl look up from her arms and glare at me.

I turn back towards the others. Nova is also chuckling at it. “I gotta admit, that was pretty funny,” he comments.

Zoe looks confused. “Wait, what’s funny?” she asks, looking around vaguely in the same direction.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” I say. “It’s time to dance, boys and girls.”

“Uh… do either of you actually know how to dance?” Nova asks me skeptically.

“Nope. Let’s go,” I say, grabbing his arm and pulling him unwillingly into the abyss.

* * *

<Ashley>

The detention is taking place in a random math classroom. It’s being monitored by some middle-aged Hispanic guy I don’t recognize. There’s only one other student, a black guy with a fairly eccentric outfit. He’s got long, curly hair that is currently tied behind him in a ponytail and is wearing a rather effeminate-looking loose-fitting V-neck.

Since I have nothing better to do, I decide to use this opportunity to finish up some work, starting with a geometry assignment. What a fucking waste of time this is. I could be practicing at home right now. Or, you know, actually doing something fun. Or training, except I guess the others would be here anyway. Grrr.

I look up from my paper and sigh, feeling a little restless. Something on the other student’s desk catches my eye, though. He’s slowly and carefully coloring in a sketch with a huge package of colored pencils in every color you can imagine.

I watch him for a while, intrigued. The drawing is actually really good. It’s a picture of a young black girl, flying through the sky with her arms out like an airplane. The sky behind her looks cloudy and stormy, but towards the other side of the page it starts to clear out, showing more and more of the serene, blue sky behind it. It gives off an aura of optimism.

I look up at our monitor. He’s on his computer, looking very unlikely to give a rat’s ass about what we’re doing.

“Hey. Nice drawing,” I say to the other student in a low voice.

He looks startled at being addressed, suddenly dropping his pencil. Since I’m trying to be genuine here, I relax my stance to try and put him more at ease.

“Oh, uh… thanks,” he says meekly.

“I’m a musician myself, so I know how to appreciate someone who’s performing highly in their artistic endeavors.”

He just smiles at me nervously, not saying anything to that.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

He looks very closely into my eyes for a few moments, as if trying to judge if he could trust me. Finally, he says, “Charlotte.”

Charlotte.

I’m starting to put two and two together here.

“My name’s Ashley,” I say. “Charlotte, by any chance… do you identify yourself as a girl?”

“Um… yes,” she says, cowering slightly as if fearing my reaction.

“Don’t worry,” I assure her. “I’ve heard about people like you. I’ll be respectful.”

Her composition becomes a little more relaxed. “So Ashley. What kind of music do you like?”

I sigh and lean back in my chair. “I’m drawn to music of a more… artistic nature, so most of the stuff I like is pretty weird.”

“You mean like Nirvana?”

“Uh… weirder than that.”

She thinks hard about that for a moment, putting her hand to her chin. “Pink Floyd?”

“You’re getting warmer. Anyways, what about you?”

“Oh, I like pretty much everything under the sun. Here, you should tell me some of your favorite albums, and I’ll look them up.”

“Oh, uh… Charlotte, I’m talking about things which are too weird for most people.”

She smiles at me, holding a pencil and sheet of notebook paper at the ready. “Don’t worry. I’ve got an open mind!”

“Well, if you’re sure…” I preface. “Here are a few of my favorites…”

She writes down all my suggestions. I hope she knows what she’s getting into. Even her handwriting looks like a work of art; she writes flawlessly in cursive.

“So Charlotte, what are you in for?” I ask, trying to keep the conversation going. She seems interesting enough to talk to.

“Missing too much school,” she replies, turning back towards her drawing and coloring while she talks. “I have to be here to make up school hours. You?”

“I got into a fight in the hallway.”

“Ohh. Did you win?”

“I guess so. I broke the bitch’s nose.”

“Wow… that’s pretty intense.”

“Yeah, well… she was bullying someone I love, so serves her right. Mom wasn’t happy with me, though.”

She nods solemnly. Though her eyes are glued to the page, the glassy look in them makes me think that her mind is God-knows-where.

* * *

<Nova>

After a while of… whatever that was, Zoe leaves to go get something to drink, leaving Anja and I in a dark, mostly secluded corner. The only person nearby is this cute guy with short brown hair and glasses who’s on his phone.

Anja watches Zoe walk away with a grin on her face. “Man. She’s mega cute. It’s too bad she’s taken already.”

“Yep,” I say, not sure how else to respond.

“I kind of wonder where she got that dress, though. Isn’t all of her stuff still at her parents’ house? With tensions recently growing, I have a hard time imagining it was easy to get into her stuff.”

“Maybe they just got her a dress at Goodwill,” I suggest. “She’s probably just too embarrassed to admit it.”

“That’s nothing to be embarrassed about! In my opinion, resourcefulness in a virtue,” she says. “Anyways… Ashley’s got a good taste in romantic partners, that’s all I know.”

At these words, that one dude nearby suddenly looks up from his phone and to us.

“Hey, what are you looking at us for?” I ask him.

He looks side to side, and then meanders up to us. “Hey. You said something about an ‘Ashley.’ Are you talking about Ashley Davis?”

“The one and only,” Anja replies. “Actually, that’s not true. According to howmanyofme.com, there are over a thousand Ashley Davises in the US.” She smiles widely. “But there’s only one Anja Buelen!”

The guy laughs nervously. “Funny story… she’s actually one of the people I tried asking out to this dance. She got really mad at me…

“Oh really, she did?”

“Yeah… she said like, ‘Do you think this is some sort of joke?’ Or something like that.”

Anja rolls her eyes. “She probably thought you were pranking her. You see… she’s not into guys. She’s gay.”

“Oh, really. I didn’t know that. Now I feel like an asshole…”

“No, don’t. It’s not your fault. Ashley’s just… a really prickly person.”

“Why would you ask her out, anyway?” I ask him.

“Well, you know. She’s in my English class, and I’ve wanted to get to know her for a while. Yeah, it’s partially because she’s pretty, but it’s also more than that.”

“I don’t think she’s that pretty,” I interject.

Anja gives me some sort of look, and then motions at him to continue.

“I mean… I really like girls that are, like… free spirited. She always has this confident demeanor like, ‘I’m going to do my thing, I don’t care what anyone else thinks.’ You just don’t see many girls like that around here.”

“Yeah… there’s a reason for that,” Anja adds grimly. “Still, I get it. She’s not the type of person I would personally want to date, but she’s definitely… a type I could see some people being interested in.”

The guy gives Anja a quizzical look. “So, uh… are you gay too, then?”

“I’m bi.”

“Oh. So… you’re attracted to both guys, _and_ girls.”

“Yes.”

“Can I ask you something? If it’s not too personal of a question.”

“Sure.”

“Are your tastes for what you like the same across gender, or do you have specific things that you like in each?”

“Hmm… it varies wildly depending on the person. For me personally, I like the same things mostly across gender lines.” She grins again. “I’m really into nerds.”

“Well, I guess it would be nice to have someone who could do your homework for you.”

“Well… I don’t even mean _that_ type of nerd, necessarily. It’s more of a demeanor thing.”

She turns towards me. “What about you, Nova?”

“I don’t know… I guess I’d want to be with someone who’s pretty chill? I wouldn’t want to be nagged all the time…”

Anja gives me this weird look. Like she knows something I don’t.

“What? What’s that look for?”

She looks away. “Oh, nothing…”

Kevin chuckles nervously again. “Anyways… It’s kind of funny that we got into this. I usually don’t get to talk about this stuff with people. “

A scowl crosses his face. “You know, other guys are always like, ‘Oh, I like girl with big tiddies.’ And I mean… I’m not disagreeing with that… but also, there’s more to it? You know?

“Yeah, trust me, I totally agree with you,” Anja assures him.

The boy smiles. “Well, good talk. It was nice meeting y’all. My name’s Kevin, by the way. And… next time you see Ashley, let her know that… you know, I didn’t know. So hopefully there’s no hard feelings or anything.”

“We’ll relay the message. See you around,” Anja closes out.

Shortly after Kevin walks away, Anja breathes out dramatically. “Well, that happened.”

“Yep.”

For a few moments, we just kinda stand there awkwardly. Then…

“I have to use the bathroom,” she says. She shuffles off to do that, leaving me by myself.

* * *

<Zoe>

Ugh… it takes so long to get through crowds. I try to be careful and not to bump into anyone or draw attention to myself, but it’s so hard not to when everyone’s packed together like this.

Eventually, I return to where we were, punch now in hand, to find Anja gone, and Nova standing there by himself. He looks kind of twitchy, and definitely irritated about something.

“Are you doing okay?” I ask him.

“Yeah. It’s just so damn loud in here,” he says. “I hope we get to leave soon. Anja’s taking so long in the bathroom. Girl problems, I bet.”

“If you have a problem with the noise, maybe we can step outside for a bit?” I suggest.

“Maybe,” he says. “But we might get locked out. I think the doors are supposed to be locked except in the front.”

So we simply stand somewhat awkwardly for a while. Nova and I haven’t had much one-to-one bonding time yet, so I have a bit of trouble thinking of a conversation topic.

“This sucks,” he says after a while. “This reminds me of when my mom took me to that work party as a kid. Everyone talks so loud and you just want them all to _shut up_ …”

“Is it hard?” I ask. “Thinking back to when you were still with your mom? Now that… you know.”

“Uh, yeah, it is. Well, I guess it’s also hard _not_ to think about it, too.”

This conversation topic is a bit on the sad side. I’m trying to think of something a little more cheerful, when Nova unexpectedly starts talking again, faster than usual.

“You know… like… there’s always going to be people in your life who don’t care what you want. They only want what _they_ want. And that means you gotta be what they want you to be. And you always hope that someday, they’ll be out of your life, and you’ll be free. But then, when you are free, you’re just like, ‘Now what?’ ‘Cause they actually made you believe it, that your whole life revolves around them. You know?”

“Um… that sounds like a rough situation,” I say, taken aback by the sudden rant.

He looks disappointed in me. “Man, I thought that out of everyone I know, you’d understand.”

“No… I do understand. I’m sorry,” I say, realizing how inadequate my initial reply was.

This seems to satisfy him. “I used to dream about never having to worry about my mom… and now that dream’s pretty much come true. Except the problem is… I don’t have any dreams left.”

This statement… makes me feel an unexpected wave of sorrow and compassion for him.

I don’t know how to put it into words, so I walk over and give him a hug. He’s awkward about it at first, but after a while he accepts and returns it.


	34. Voyage (September 21)

<Ashley>

I’m surprised to see that the Methodist Church isn’t completely deserted by the time we arrive there. It seems as though the final few Chatty Cathys are still finding their way out, as there are a couple of middle-aged ladies hovering around the church entrance still.

I lead Zoe past the church and to the picnic tables, where she takes a seat. I go over to the trees and say, in a clear but not too loud voice, “Hey Ted. It’s us.”

He doesn’t appear immediately, so I just make my way back over to where Zoe is sitting. She looks a little apprehensive. While I’ve already explained the basics of the Metaverse and introduced her to Ted, this’ll be her first time really travelling through it with us.

“You don’t think something’s happened to him?” Zoe asks.

“Nah, he’s probably just finishing off a beetle or something.”

Zoe is back to her lip-chewing and twitching, and she only seems to be getting more nervous as we go. I sit down next to her and put an arm around her, which seems to help.

Sure enough, Ted emerges from the greenery about a minute later. I grab him and set him on the table, as usual.

“While we’re waiting for those other two to get here, I’ll fill you in,” I say to him. “Recent events have necessitated that we take actions against this one’s parents before they do anything foolish. The problem is, we weren’t able to find any Palace or anything that’s likely to indicate they have a presence there. I think it’d be smart to stop by the house and look around more closely, however. Do you know anything about how to affect targets without the use of a Palace? I swear Lucy mentioned once that was possible.”

Ted growls a little. “That’s a question you’ll have to ask her, then. I sure as hell haven’t ever done such a thing.”

“I appreciate your honesty, Ted. The other matter of business is, based on our experience with the last Palace, I think it’s best if we get Zoe to awaken her Persona _before_ we make the final move. I believe you said before that it required feeling a powerful emotion; can we intentionally evoke that?”

Zoe gives me an odd grin. “Well, if that’s all it takes, that’ll be easy. Just start asking me questions about my upbringing, and I’ll probably start crying again.”

I’m not sure whether to laugh or not, so I just sort of clear my throat awkwardly.

“It’s more than just that,” Ted explains. “Not only does it require a strong emotion, but it also usually involves a clear and present danger to the one who’s being awakened. In addition, the awakening is an experience which comes from deep in the soul of a person. It should ideally represent some sort of turning point in that person’s life.”

“Damn, nothing can ever be easy, can it?” I curse in response.

There is an awkward pause. Zoe continues to look nervous for a while, and then I hear her take a large breath and asks, “Ashley… you’re sure this isn’t witchcraft, right?” Her eyes briefly flit to Ted, and then back to me.

“I assure you it ain’t, lassie,” Ted responds for me, causing Zoe to jump slightly. “I was sent here by the archangel, St. Michael.”

“Wow, really?” Zoe asks, her eyes glowing. “And what did He send you to do?”

“To find the one that He marked as His embassy,” Ted explains, nodding to me.

“Wow! That makes me feel a lot better about this.” Zoe says, smiling at him. Although I’m personally kind of amazed at how easily she believed him. It’s a rather strange story, all things considered. Like, now that he’s found me, what is he doing? Just following me wherever I go? He never really explained that part.

Before I can ask, however, I hear a car nearby and turn my head to see that Anja and Nova have, at last, arrived. As they exit Anja’s car, they’re loudly talking and laughing about something. The Chatty Cathys end up walking past them while finally leaving, and based on the contemptuous glares being tossed their way, what Anja and Nova are talking about must be either obscene, or involving the use of a lot of swear words. Or both. Probably both.

As they are approaching, I hear Nova say, “And then first the chick is like, ‘Hey, it’s been a whole thirty seconds since we last looked at our lemon tree!’” This must have been hilarious in context because both of them burst into laughter at this. Zoe giggles too, even though I’m certain she doesn’t get it any more than I do.

“Thank you two for finally joining us,” I chide them as they get near us.

“That’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard!” Anja manages to reply through giggles. “Send me the link after this. I won’t believe this until I see it.”

The two take their seats, and I simply stare at them as they get the last of their laughs out of their system.

“Alright… what’s up, Ashley?” Anja asks after a moment.

Without further ado, I whisk us into the red and purple hell.

* * *

Zoe held it together pretty well, considering that this is her first time in here for a significant period of time. For now, she’s just hanging back any time we run into an enemy, and today we managed to battle our way over to her house without too much trouble. This had the unfortunate side effect of not allowing any chance for her Persona to awaken, though.

We arrive at her house, and as expected, nothing appears to be out of the ordinary here. That said, we decide that it is worth a quick look around.

“Nice place you got here,” Anja says to Zoe as we step through the doorway.

It’s true, though it’s a bit harder to tell in the current conditions. The house looks clean, comfortable, and inviting. Normally, everything in the house, from the rugs to the curtains to the paint on the walls, would be matched in color in a way that is just _so_ satisfying. Whatever other faults they have, Zoe’s family are great interior decorators.

Anja and Nova immediately start wandering around looking for anything out of the ordinary, but Zoe pensively looks around her own living room for a moment.

“You okay?” I ask her.

“Yeah… I’m okay. It’s just kind of weird seeing my own house like…” she trails off.

“I know what you mean. How do you think I felt when I first got dragged into this world?”

She blinks in a surprised way. I get the impression that I misjudged what she was getting at.

“Hey! I found something _weeeird_ in here!” Anja’s voice calls from the other room. Zoe and I turn and go the direction of her voice, which leads into the master bedroom.

It’s immediately evident what Anja is talking about. Under the wall across from the bed, there’s a strange purple sludge that seems to be oozing in from under the walls.

“Wow, that’s gross,” I comment. “Ted, you ever see anything like this?”

No response. I look around, and only just then notice that he’s not in the room with us. “Uhh… Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” Anja replies. “I meant what I said earlier. He’s so small, I honestly usually forget he’s even here!”

“What, you like having someone in the group who’s actually shorter than you so you can pick on them?” I tease her.

For this, I get a warning look from her, but before she can defend herself, Nova and Ted stumble into the room after us. When Nova sees the sludge, he just stops in the place and stares at it with wide eyes. It’s almost a little bit comical.

“Ashley wanted to know if you’ve seen anything like this before,” Zoe says to Ted.

“Yep. Reminds me of the summer of ’65 when my sink got backed up. Got cruddy water all over the kitchen.”

Huh. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard him tell a joke. I guess maybe he’s coming out of his shell a little. Oh my god, that was awful. His _shell_. That’s something that Anja would say on purpose.

“Uh… how old are you, anyway?” Anja asks him. Then, suddenly her voice gets quieter. “Ted, are you… a boomer?”

Before Ted can answer, Nova suddenly puts an arm out, indicating that she should shut it, and then walks up to the sludge puddle, intently staring at it still. Then, he extends a single index finger. “I’ve figured it out,” he says. “This looks exactly like one of those pools in Shadow the Hedgehog.”

I don’t think anything could’ve prepared me for hearing that sentence.

“Wait… what are you saying?” Anja asks him. Then, she snaps her fingers, seemingly having a realization. “Oh… I get it. Ted- can you roll yourself into a ball, by any chance?”

Nova, however, shakes his head. “No, that won’t work. Shadow could only do that because he had Black Arms DNA.”

“Okay, how about both of you shut the fuck up,” I tell them, having enough of the pointless conversation.

Nova glares at me, firing up. “Bitch, I’m trying to make a point here! I’m saying… I bet that this _comes from_ somewhere. And that means that it also _leads to_ somewhere.”

…Okay, I suppose that’s worth considering.

“Let’s go outside and see, then,” I say.

We do so, exiting the house and going around the side. While doing so, I start thinking about how strange this all is. The church becoming some weird organ, which not even Lucy could explain… and now this? Somehow, the two seem connected. We arrive, and sure enough, one of the veins that are scattered through this world goes right into the bottom of the wall where the puddle was.

“Look! I was right!” Nova declares. “Come on, let’s follow it and see where it goes!”

“Wait… that may not be necessary,” I interrupt. “I have… a hypothesis.”

“Let’s hear it!” Anja says.

“I’ve always thought that these weird… things in this world looked like blood vessels, or veins,” I explain. "And when we stopped by the Baptist church, it looked like an organ. And even the first time I went there, it seemed like there were a lot more veins there.”

Anja’s eyes widen. “Oh, I think I get what you’re saying. It’s like these are all… leading to the church. Or at least, some of them are.”

“Yes. And so, if I’m correct, there’s an easier way of finding out where they lead than following this vein halfway across town,” I suggest. “How about we check the houses of some others who are within the church, and see if there is anything in those that is similar?”

“Uh, sure.” Anja agrees. “I’ll let you lead the way…”

“Wait a sec,” Nova interjects. “Wouldn’t one of these be in _your_ house, if that’s the case? Didn’t your parents just get shit canned a couple weeks ago?”

“I don’t think so,” I say. “Knowing how my parents are.”

“What do you mean by that?” Anja asks curiously.

“It’s a bit difficult to explain, but I’ll try,” I say. “My parents… aren’t the type to put too much trust in institutions. They’re always complaining about this organization or that one being run incompetently. It doesn’t matter if it’s a corporation, or the government, or the political parties… or, indeed, churches. I’m betting that they already had some complaints about our church before ripping off the bandage, but were just choosing to take the good with the bad until the bad got to be too much to ignore.”

“Hmph. That explains a lot about you, honestly,” Anja says darkly. “We are all a reflection of our parents, after all.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I reply.

“Anyways… I’ll let you lead the way to the nearest Baptist churchgoer’s house, then,” Anja suggests, trying to steer the conversation back on topic, even though she’s the one who got it off topic to begin with.

I look at Zoe. “I’m going to need your help for this one. You know I’ve never been much of a socialite.”

Zoe stares at me for a second, seemingly not expecting to be addressed. But then, she says, “Um… yeah, I can help with that. Let’s check Diana’s house, it’s only a couple of blocks away.”

“Diana, huh?” Anja comments. “Isn’t she the one who called me a slut?”

“I wasn’t there, but probably,” I reply. “She usually doesn’t get that vulgar, you should feel flattered.”

* * *

“The data points we gathered support my hypothesis,” I tell Zoe. We’re walking back towards our own street, Anja and Nova having already gone home. “Diana’s house had one. So did Terra’s. Anja’s didn’t. Neither did Yonca’s. Of course hers wouldn’t have one, she’s Muslim. Mine didn’t have one.”

“So, if all of those are leading to our church, what does that mean?” Zoe asks.

“I’m not completely sure, but I think we’re onto something big. I’m going to run this all past Lucy tonight and see what she thinks. Until then, we…”

I am interrupted mid-sentence by my phone ringing. It’s Mom.

“Hey Mom. What’s up?” I ask.

“Hey Ashley. Where are you and Zoe right now?”

“We were just walking around the neighborhood. Why?”

“Can you get back here as soon as you can? The Sheriff is here, and he wants to talk to her.”

“We’re literally about to get back home, Mom. Two minutes. See you soon.” I hang up. “C’mon Zoe. We’re needed.”

“Did she say that… the Sheriff is there?” She asks, looking frightened.

“Yeah, but don’t worry. He just wants to talk.” This doesn’t really do anything to calm her, though.

Anyways, we get back to my house a minute later. Sure enough, when we walk back in the front door, I can see a gruff, middleweight, middle-aged man in a police uniform in the living room.

“Let me guess. The blonde one’s Zoe?” He says, his baritone voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Um… sir?” Zoe says in a squeaky voice. “You’re not here to take me away… are you?”

“Well, that depends. Come into the other room with me. I need you to answer a few questions."

He sidles past us and into the door frame leading to Zoe’s room. I give Zoe a quick hug before she follows after him, pale as a ghost and biting her lip so hard that I’m a little worried she’s going to make it bloody.

I look over at my parents, sitting in their usual chairs. Dad is looking at the newspaper as if it had insulted him, and Mom is leaning far back in her chair with her head down and her eyes closed. They don’t seem worried, but they definitely look annoyed.

“So, still too cowardly to come get her themselves?” I ask them, taking a seat on the couch.

“For the time being, yes,” Dad answers. “If you want to know my two cents, I say that wasting the time of police officers is not a very patriotic thing to do. As if those folks weren’t hypocritical enough.”

I nod in agreement. There’s nothing to do for a while except sit there and twiddle my thumbs.

After a thankfully short few minutes, the door to Zoe’s room opens again, and Zoe quickly walks into the living room, appearing clearly rattled, and proceeding to sit on the couch right next to me, so close that our sides are touching.

“All right, good news folks!” The Sheriff says in a false cheery voice, swaggering into the room himself. “It looks like there’s no funny business going on here. You’re off the hook. And you-” He makes direct eye contact with Zoe- “Kindly tell your folks that the police force has better ways to spend their damn time than cleaning up their problems for them.”

Zoe nods curtly, even though I know for a fact that she has no intention of telling them any such thing.

“Thank you, Officer,” Mom says, sitting back up in her chair. “Do you need anything else from us today?”

“Nope. I hope I don’t see you again,” he says bluntly. And with that, he exits out through the front door, stopping to smoke a cigarette on his way out.


	35. Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral (September 22 Part 1)

<Ashley>

Nngrh… why am I awake… what is that light… I turn in my bed away from it… Even with my eyes closed, though, I can still see the pink through my eyelids… the pink light…

My eyes fly open. Oh shit. Oh _fuck_.

Suddenly much more awake, I propel myself to a sitting position. As I feared, it’s the gem on the front of the journal. And if Lucy is to be believed, that means that there is something happening in the Metaverse nearby…

I get on my phone and start spamming the group chat. Anja and Nova better have done what I told them to do and left their ringers on…

Thankfully, it looks like they did, as they’re starting to give me incomprehensible strings of letters in reply.

_The very second the clock strikes 2:17, everyone enter the Metaverse_ , I direct them. _Due to the time difference there, we must enter almost simultaneously or there will be a heavy delay._ Actually, that makes me wonder if we’re even going to be able to get there fast enough to find out anything… But anyways, it’s 2:17, so I hit the app. Let’s hope that the others are awake enough to do their part.

* * *

<Nova>

And that’s how I ended up in the Metaverse at 2:17 in the god damn morning. Man, I wanna just go back to sleep.

I look around my room, which I’ve never actually seen in this form before. I don’t see anything out of the ordinary in here, just all of my same furniture. Wait a minute… how are we supposed to communicate with each other in the Metaverse?

I get my phone out, which seems to have traveled with me this time, probably because I have the app now. It was conveniently put in a pocket in my kingly robes. Ashley is able to call that Lucy chick using her phone in this world… maybe we can call each other?

I go to the “contacts” app, which seems to be one of the few that still works on here. All my usual contacts are gone, but I see Ashley and Anja listed there without any numbers. I call Anja.

“Uh… hello?” Her voice says from the other end.

“Hey. Nova here.”

“Oh, hi! Didn’t know we could use these to call each other.”

“Me neither,” I admit. “See anything weird at your place?”

“No. I’ve already looked through my house and around the outside, but I don’t see anything unusual.”

Hmm. I guess I should do that.

“Okay, let me look around mine,” I tell her. I open my door and go out into the living roomLKJDALK;JDF;LJSADF IT’S THAT WEIRD MASKED DUDE

“What wrong?” Anja asks, presumably having heard my gasp.

“It’s… THAT DARK DUDE… UH, I MEAN CHICK… SHE’S HERE! IN MY LIVING ROOM!”

“Oh no, you caught me!” The chick says, in a vaguely Darth Vader-esque voice. “How am I going to kidnap your father and little sister now?”

“Anja! Get over here!” I yell through the phone. “She’s trying to kidnap my family!”

“Got it. I’ll tell Ashley. Be there soon.” She hangs up.

I brandish Mjölnir at her threateningly. “Bitch you better get the fuck out of my home!” I tell her.

“Hmm… don’t think I will,” she says.

I charge forward and swing at her. She blocks it with a sort of electric shield. I’m worried that she’s going to go for the punish… but instead, she uses the brief moment I’m off my balance to dash across the room, her green cape gliding across the floor.

“Hey! Get back here!” I call after her.

“I thought you said you wanted me to _leave_!” She calls back.

This is pissing me off. I fire one of my lightning attacks at her… only for her to just redirect it around her and fire it back at me; which I then redirect again. Seeing that this isn’t going anywhere, I just slam it into the wall to my left.

Damn. If she’s faster than me, and my electric attacks don’t work, this is going to be a long fight. I hope the others get here soon…

* * *

<Zoe>

It’s a bright sunny day, and I’m in my grandfather’s backyard, picking oranges off his orange tree. Whenever I pick one off, I hear a very loud and satisfying _crack_ rend the air. I have eight in the basket so far- I need one more. But the last one is just barely too high for me to reach- I can only rub against it slightly with my fingertips.

Then, I hear someone coming up from behind me, and Ashley’s arm reaches over my head and grabs the last one. She sets it into my basket gently.

“You seemed like you needed a hand,” Ashley says. I turn to her, and she’s giving me a sweet smile- the kind I rarely see from her in real life. I jump up into her arms and start kissing her on the lips. The basket falls onto the ground, but I’ll worry about that later. I just enjoy the bliss for a while…

Then, something weird starts happening. I feel like I’m… sinking, somehow.

I turn my head down to my feet. There’s a puddle of black tar on the ground, and I’m slowly being consumed by it…

“Ashley! HELP ME!” I scream, feeling utter panic.

Ashley, however, looks at me thoughtfully. “I can’t help you out of this one. It looks like your dream is about to become a nightmare.”

“But I don’t want another nightmare! This dream was so happy!”

Ashley shakes her head at me. By this time, I’m down to my waist, so she sits down crisscross applesauce on the floor to be level with me.

“Zoe, make sure you remember what you and Nova talked about. Back at the Homecoming Dance.”

“Wh… what? But how do you know about that? You weren’t there!”

“The real Ashley wasn’t there, but I’m Dream Ashley, so I know all about it.” She smiles at me again. “I believe in you, Zoe. I think you’re ready.”

“What? No! I’m not ready! Please, ju-” But it’s no good. My mouth is under the tar, it’s filling my lungs, and all I feel is a horrible suffocating sensation. The last thing I see before my eyes sink underneath is Ashley picking up the basket and walking away.

Then, there’s nothing but blackness for a while. I feel like I’m being forced through a really tight tube, simultaneously not moving at all and moving way too fast.

Then suddenly, I’m back in my bed, gasping for breath as I desperately try to fill my lungs again.

Ashley’s standing over my bed, waiting patiently for me to wake up. However, something’s odd- she’s in her suit of armor. I glance around the bedroom and see that we’re back in the Metaverse.

“Ashley, what’s going on?” I ask her once I catch my breath. “Why are we here again?”

“Zoe… my love, we need to get away from here,” she tells me. “My enemies are approaching, and I must get you to a safe location.”

“Y-your enemies?” I ask. “You mean that… shapeshifting demon guy you told me about?”

She nods solemnly. “Yes, it is Moloch, and his masked servant.” She reaches her hand out for me. “Come on. Time is of the essence.”

I take her hand, and she pulls me to my feet with surprising strength. I continue clinging to her hand for dear life as she walks out of my room at a brisk pace.

She leads me out of the house, and then takes a left, walking straight through the yard.

“Where are we going, Ashley?” I ask her.

“Lucy told me of a place we can go nearby for safety,” she explains.

We continue in that direction, eventually crossing the street perpendicular to hers, and then walking towards the Methodist Church. Of course we’re going there- that made sense as a hideout.

* * *

<Anja>

By the time I arrive at Nova’s place, it sounds like a brawl is already well under way. I quickly run up the stairs to his unit and fling open the door.

The Dark Trooper stands on the far side of the living room closer to his TV, while Nova is in the middle. He’s just standing there panting, clearly exhausted.

Without hesitation, I lift up my gun and open fire on the Trooper. She rolls out of the way and takes shelter behind the couch. Nova seizes the opportunity to try and clobber her with Mjölnir from above, but she shields it, and he simply bounces off of her. She leaps to her feet and dashes towards me. I try to blow her back with my wind magic attack but… it doesn’t do anything. Damn, wind seems to be kinda situational. She reaches me, grabs my gun, chucks it into the hallway leading to the bathroom, and then leaps into the kitchen area.

I take the moment of respite to go help Nova to his feet.

“This bitch is… really annoying,” he tells me with his teeth bared as he regains his balance.

“Well, it’s two against one now, and we got her pinned down in the kitchen. Let’s get her!” I say to rouse him. He nods, and we both turn back towards our foe.

* * *

<Zoe>

We walk across the lawn and through the parking lot in silence. However, instead of going past the church like usual, she leads me towards the entrance.

“Are you going to be able to fight them off?” I ask her.

She grins at me cockily. “Yes, I will have no trouble smiting those fiends. Follow me into here…”

“What brings you two here?” A gruff voice asks in the night.

I turn my head to see Ted, standing just outside the entrance walkway.

“Ted! Moloch is coming to attack us!” I explain to him. “Can you help Ashley fight him off?”

“I certainly can. I…” However, he stops mid-sentence and starts glaring at Ashley suspiciously.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” She asks indignantly. “I can’t waste any more time. I’m going to get Zoe to safety.”

Without any sort of warning whatsoever, Ted pulls out his pistol and shoots Ashley right through the chest, tearing through her armor like tissue paper.

* * *

<Anja>

As it turns out, having her pinned down in the kitchen doesn’t give us as much of an advantage as I’d hope. She just keeps using the counter for cover against all of our attacks, and then when we try to jump over or run around to get her, she switches to the other side. Even after I run off to retrieve my gun, it barely helps.

And I begin to notice something odd about her fighting style, specifically that she’s not really doing much _fighting_. She’s almost entirely using evasion and defensive tactics. Almost as if…

After jumping over the counter to evade us yet again, the Trooper runs back into the living room.

“She’s getting away!” Nova shouts hoarsely. He makes to run after her, but I hold out my arm to stop him.

“Hold on, Nova. Things aren’t quite what they seem.”

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“I think she’s just... stalling us,” I say. “Notice how she’s not actually trying to do much damage?”

“Stalling us for what?” he asks, his eyes wide.

“Let’s go find out,” I say. We walk into the living room, this time more orderly, to find her sitting on the back of the couch, looking almost bored.

I’m about to open my mouth to ask her a question; but then, the door slams open.

“Finally made it here, huh?” Nova asks Ashley, slightly tauntingly, as the latter brandishes her sword at the Trooper.

* * *

<Zoe>

For a moment, I’m totally dumbfounded at what just happened.

Then, I watch in even more confusion as, right in front of my eyes, the hole in Ashley’s chest stitches itself together, and the armor connects again, as if nothing had ever happened.

Ashley looks utterly furious. “You stupid little rodent,” she spits. Then, forms a sort of ball with her hands in midair, and Ted begins floating. All of his limbs and his head shoot back into his shell. Ashley tosses one of her hands up, causing Ted to fly really far into the air and behind us.

“A-Ashley, why did you do that to Ted?” I ask, absolutely horrified.

“Don’t you have eyes? He shot me. Come on.” She grabs me by the arm and starts trying to pull me into the church. I resist, however.

“What the hell are you doing, Zoe? Come with me!” she growls at me.

“Ashley… when I played Super Smash Bros. with my brothers, what character did I play as?”

“What? How should I know that?”

“I told you, Ashley. Remember?”

She rolls her eyes at me. “Uh, I’m guessing you played as Pit and did nothing but spam side-B.”

I shake my head. “No, Ashley. That’s not it…”

“Well, how am I supposed to remember such a stupid detail about your life?” she barks at me.

“Okay, f-fine. Ashley… what Disney movie were you watching when you realized you were a lesbian?”

She thinks about it for a moment. “Um… Mulan.”

* * *

<Anja>

“Hold up a minute, Ash,” I tell Ashley before she can do anything. “We think that she’s just trying to stall us.”

The Trooper laughs, the voice modulator making the noise sound strange and eerie. “Ah, you’ve finally puzzled it out. Well done. You know, I really wish that you wouldn’t poke your nose around in these dangerous matters. But recklessness is a family trait, I suppose…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I shout back at her, raising my weapon. “You don’t know anything about my family!”

“Anja, she’s just trying to wind you up,” Ashley points out. “So, you’re stalling us, huh?”

“Yes, of course I am!” she replies gleefully. “Why on earth do you think we’d want to mess with some fast-food worker and his smart mouthed daughter? You should’ve been more worried about your sweet little girlfriend…”

Ashley’s face contorts into a slightly alarming, stone cold expression. “What did you say.”

The Trooper snickers. “Well, I think I’ve stalled you long enough. She’ll be long gone by now. And by th…”

Before she can finish, Ashley swings her sword through the air with tremendous speed and slices one of the Trooper’s legs clean off. A pale, feminine leg falls down, getting some blood onto the couch and floor.

The Trooper screams a horrible scream, points her gun straight at Ashley, and shoots her with some sort of strange dart. It hits Ashley square in the neck and causes her to start squirming uncontrollably on the floor, an electric current running through her body. Then, the Trooper sets her hand on top of the gun, and simply teleports away.

I lean down to Ashley, who is still overcome with painful spasms, and I yank the dart out of her neck. She goes still, and then shortly afterwards starts getting to her feet, the blood from the floor now dripping down her armor.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

“I’m fine,” she says firmly, even though she’s still trembling a little bit. “Come on. Let’s go,” she commands.

It doesn’t occur to me for a second to disobey.

* * *

<Zoe>

I start desperately trying to free myself from her grip, tears pouring down my face. That’s not her… that’s not the real Ashley…

“Stop with this bullshit, Zoe!” She yells at me, her eyes full of malice. She starts pulling me by my arm, using so much force that I can’t resist it. I’m dragged through the church entrance, and then into the sanctuary.

She seems to be dragging me towards the front, where a strange, oily and glassy substance is along the wall at the very front of the room. I kick out with my feet against the pews, trying to get more leverage.

“Quit being a stupid little girl,” she growls at me. “I guess I should’ve just left you to die, hmm?”

“Th-the real Ashley would… sniff… never talk to me like that!” I shout back at her, tears pouring down my face all the same.

“Figured it out, have you?” She says. “Not like it matters. It’s too late. I’m going to take your useless life with me as payback against that bitch for trying to meddle in my plans. And without you, they’ll be useless to go against my glorious creation…”

Abandoning pretense, she flings me over her shoulder and into the bench at the front with tremendous speed. The impact makes me feel bruises all along my back, and it hurts enough to make my eyes wet.

“Of course, they’d be useless against it even _with_ you, I reckon,” she says, walking up to me with an uncanny smirk. She’s breathing deeply for some reason… like she’s enjoying the smell of the air. Each breath makes her smile seem more twisted…

“Y… you’re not… treating me… like… this,” I manage to weakly cough out. I feel something strange inside of me…

Suddenly, Fake Ashley looks at me with alarm. “Wait a minute… what are you doing?” She asks frantically.

* * *

And suddenly, I’m back in the backyard, sitting on the ground by the orange tree. As peaceful as if none of it had ever happened.

However, someone new is here. A few feet away from me is a gorgeous woman. She has flowing blonde hair and an ornate, patterned green dress that sways freely in the wind, occasionally revealing more of her smooth legs and bare feet. But her most conspicuous feature was a pair of wings that came from her back, clear like a dragonfly’s. She was holding the basket of oranges I had picked earlier.

“Um… hello?” I say uncertainly. “Who are you?”

“I am thou, thou art I…” she giggles a little bit. “Zoe, it’s time for me to lend you my power.”

She gestures at the basket. “You’ve done good work. But why live your whole life for the sake of others? Maybe you should do something for yourself for once.”

“B-but, working for the good of others is a virtue!” I argue. “It’s how we should live as Christians.”

“Yes, but _which_ others, Zoe?” she replies. “What if you’re ordered to do nothing when something needs you? Or to do the wrong thing? In that case… you have sinned. In what you’ve done, and in what you’ve left undone.”

I sit there for a moment, understanding of what she’s saying dawning upon me.

I rise to my feet. “Okay…”

She smiles proudly at me. “Good. Lovely as it is, it’s time to leave this place behind… forever this time.”

* * *

My body begins to convulse. A mask appears on her face, and as if following orders, I reach up and tear it off. The pain is unbearable for a moment, and I scream in a shrill voice, blood pouring out of where the mask was removed. Then, my body is engulfed in blue fire, and I can feel myself being reborn from the flames... I emerge wearing a golden headband over my hair, a fancy dress with a sparkly gold torso and short sleeves, a flowing white skirt, and a gorgerine with a complex green and red pattern hanging over my shoulders. I’m now carrying a gold-plated semi-auto shotgun with a thin barrel.

Fake Ashley looks at me with mild annoyance. “Well, I guess I should’ve just killed you back in the house, then. I thought I’d drag you into the Shadow Realm and have a nice feast at your expense… but whatever. Have it your way.” Then, in the blink of an eye, she lunges for me.


	36. All Alone (September 22 Part 2)

<Zoe>

She grabs me by my throat and lifts me into the air and I’m suffocating, but I quickly reach my hands around my new shotgun and fire it into her stomach, finding it to use the same process as firing a shotgun in the real world. This stuns Fake Ashley well enough to get her to release me. I already know from prior experience that this won’t stop her for long, but this is all I need; I take the moment she is healing the wound to run away and take cover behind some of the pews.

“Wow, now _this_ is a first!” I hear her call jeeringly after a few seconds. “I’ve never seen someone awaken their Persona and then immediately run away before!”

I stay crouched behind the pew, silently. She can’t see me, right…?

The air rushes out of my lunges as I start flying straight up and through the air towards Fake Ashley.

I have no chance of winning or even getting away like this… but unlocking your Persona is supposed to give you some sort of magic, right? There has to be something I can do…

In a rush, I outstretch a hand and try something. Fake Ashley seems to be shrouded in some type of aura.

“You g-… huh… what are you…” she says incoherently.

It must have worked, because I feel myself suddenly fall to the floor, as if gravity had been turned back on. In front of me, Fake Ashley’s eyes shut, and she suddenly falls over onto the floor, motionless.

Wow… did I do that? She’s still breathing… she must just be asleep.

If that’s the case, I better use this opportunity to go hide somewhere. I waste no time in turning around and dashing out of the church sanctuary.

* * *

<Ashley>

We finally arrive back at my house. I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, but this is where Zoe would’ve been when I left, so she can’t be far.

I put up my right arm to signal the others to stop. I listen for sounds of a scuffle happening inside.

I do hear something… but it’s not coming from the house. It’s coming from our right. I hear a sort of low grunting sound.

“You hear that?” I ask the others.

“Yeah. Sounds like someone who’s in pain,” Anja observes.

“Come on.” I take off in the direction of the noise.

The noise turns out to be coming from Ted, who is lying in the middle of the road. He looks really bad. His shell has several large dents and bruises, and the impact of whatever happened left him barely conscious.

Anja lets out a loud gasp upon seeing him and kneels next to him. “Oh my goodness… what happened to you?”

“Moloch… disguised… Zoe with him…” Ted groans.

I feel a charge in my blood at these words. “Where are they?” I demand.

“In the church… here…”

He must mean the Methodist Church… Without further ado, I run towards it.

* * *

<Nova>

After hearing this, Ashley immediately runs off in the direction of the church, leaving Anja and I behind with Ted.

“Ted, we need to get you healed up!” Anja croons over him. “Here, let me…”

Ted, however, shakes his head. “Too much… take me back…”

“T… Take you back?” Anja asks, confused.

“I think he needs you to take him back to the regular world,” I tell her. “I think he’s saying… his HP is zero. We can’t heal him, and he’s just gonna lose consciousness and die.”

Ted nods.

“Okay. I’ll take him back. You go help Ashley rescue Zoe,” Anja tells me.

“Got it,” I agree.

She uses her Metaverse app to take herself and Ted back. I take off in the same direction that Ashley went.

* * *

<Ashley>

I arrive at the church to once again see that things are eerily quiet. Ted’s limited wording suggested that they went inside the church, so I fling open the door so hard that it fills the hall with a loud bang.

My eyes scan the entry hall quickly, but there is still nobody around. Where could they have gone?

Then, somebody runs into the hallway, and I immediately turn towards them, startled… Then, I am flooded with relief when I see that it’s Zoe. Thank God, she’s okay…

I run over to her and immediately wrap my arms around her, just feeling her pressed up against me for a while.

But then, I have to release her, knowing that we’re probably still in danger. “Zoe, is Moloch still here? Where has he gone?”

“He’s still around here somewhere,” she tells me seriously.

It’s then that I notice something… Zoe’s outfit has changed, meaning that she must’ve had to awaken her Persona. Her outfit is a very regal, but it also has a distinctly foreign air to it. In contrast, her weapon of choice is a shotgun, one that looks pretty close to a good old-fashioned Remington. Even if it’s plated gold, it helps retain a piece of her rural southern heritage.

“Hey, nice outfit,” I tell her.

“Thank you,” she says. Suddenly, her eyes pop open. “Ashley, look! Behind you!”

I whirl around to find… nothing. I’m about to ask what she was referring to, but then, I feel a pair hands clench my throat from my behind, and I quickly begin suffocating.

God damn it… I’m an idiot.

“Hehehe… you thought it was your precious girlfriend, but it was me, Moloch,” she says. Though she says it in Zoe’s voice, it’s in a twisted, evil tone that just sounds totally wrong for her.

I thrash desperately to try to escape, but her grip only grows stronger. Hell, at this point she might snap my neck before I can finish suffocating.

Thankfully, at that point, some others run through the front door; Nova charges in first, and following him closely is… Zoe again, presumably the real one this time.

Nova, quickly discerning what is happening, shoots a lightning bolt at Moloch, knocking her against the wall and causing her to lose grip on my neck. I take the opportunity to desperately gulp air back into my lungs.

“Thanks, Nova,” I tell him, as he and Zoe approach me.

“You’re… the real one, right?” Zoe asks, looking at me cautiously.

“I might ask you the same thing,” I reply.

Unfortunately, our reunion is cut short by Moloch re-emerging from the shadows, giving us all a spiteful look which, once again, doesn’t suit being on Zoe’s face at all.

“Alrighty then. I see you’re too smart for garden variety trickery. We’ll have to do things the old-fashioned way,” she announces.

“Bring it! It’s three against one now!” Nova shouts. “You don’t stand a chance.”

Moloch snickers. Then, she clasps both fists in midair, which causes the church’s roof to collapse in. Reacting quickly, I jump out of the way of the falling debris but am still knocked to the ground by a chunk of rock striking my shoulder. From there, a bunch of smaller debris pelts me, burying me under a pile of rock. I begin trying to push it off of me, but it’s heavy and my arms hurt from the fall, meaning that I’m stuck for now.

* * *

<Zoe>

I can do nothing but pathetically lie on the floor for a while, having several bruises on my body and legs from the falling rocks. I only managed to avoid being totally covered by the rubble because I was the one nearest to the archway. All of the debris and dust everywhere makes me feel claustrophobic... I start pushing the rubble off of my legs so I can be free.

And then I see… myself. The form that the demon took to fool Ashley. Standing over me, with a twisted, hungry expression.

“Well, now it looks like all of your friends are incapacitated” she says, flashing a wicked grin. She takes a huge breath in, like someone smelling their favorite pie, and is so stimulated by it that she twitches a little bit. “Ah yes, those falling ceiling chunks hurt, didn’t they? I can taste it… Such a wonderful, wonderful taste...”

I don’t like how close she’s getting to me, so I grab my shotgun and fire it straight at her. With amazing reflexes, she uses telekinesis to bend the path of the bullets away from her without even flinching. She then kicks me hard in my right arm, creating yet another bruise and causing me to drop the gun.

“Nice try, but did you really think I wouldn’t see that coming?” she taunts, still grinning. She squats behind me and grabs my arms. “Well, it’s back to the original plan now. Through the portal we go.”

All of a sudden, Nova appears from the rubble, somehow completely unharmed. Quick as a flash, he slams into Fake Me with his hammer, knocking her all the way to the other side of the hall.

Then, he reaches out his hand for me, which I take with my own. He hurriedly fumbles with his phone. I can feel myself leaving the Metaverse, and in the last few moments before I fade out of it entirely, I hear a terrible scream of fury rend the room…

* * *

I appear again inside the church, back in the regular world, my body whole again, and dressed in the pajamas I went to bed in. All of my cuts and bruises are thankfully gone now, but I still find myself momentarily frozen from the shock.

“Wow… I had no idea how I was gonna get out from under there,” Ashley comments, pulling herself to a sitting position. “Great work, Nova.”

She shuffles over to me and wraps me into her arms. “Zoe… are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“Not anymore,” I reply reassuringly. “I just… need a minute.” Ashley seems to understand what I mean, and brushes through my hair a little bit.

“Wait a minute… where are Anja and Ted?” Ashley asks suddenly. “Are they still in there with that maniac?”

“No, they left already,” Nova reassures her.

Regardless, Ashley quickly gets to her feet, and gives me her hand to do the same. “Well, before we get too relaxed, we should go and make sure they got out okay,” she asserts.

I take her hand and stand up. Even though there’s nothing wrong with my legs, they still feel really weak, so I almost fall over before I gain my balance back.

“Come on, it’s okay. We’re safe now,” Ashley croons to me. I nod in acknowledgement, and we briskly walk out of the church still holding hands.

We exit the church, having to unlock the door to get out, and start back in the direction of Ashley’s house.

We see Anja and Ted both by the road, Anja sitting on the ground and Ted in her lap. They both thankfully look unharmed, though Anja looks very mad about something…

“Excellent. Glad to see that we all made it out,” Ashley says upon reaching them.

“Ashley, what the hell were you thinking?” Anja accosts her. “Why did you leave Ted behind here? If we had been a few minutes later, he could’ve _died!_ Like, in the real world too!”

Ashley’s expression quickly shifts from relieved to indignant. “Well Anja, I was thinking ‘Wow, I better get to Nova’s place as soon as possible to help out.’ And to pick up Ted on the way would’ve been a major detour.”

“Yeah, well, he could’ve been useful to us during the fight!” Anja snaps back.

“Well… Ted being here probably did save me from being kidnapped,” I say to the others. “He was the one who alerted me of that other Ashley being a fake one.”

“Alright, sure. Take her side then,” Anja says to me coldly.

I feel very sheepish all of a sudden. “N-no, that’s not what I meant…”

“Think about it the other way, too,” Nova cuts in. “If Ashley had gone to go get Ted, then _both_ of them would’ve been there to intercept Moloch. Then Ashley could’ve told us about the ruse, and we could’ve gotten there a lot sooner.”

“Oh, what is the point of all these ‘what ifs’?” Ashley says, looking haughty and starting to lose her temper. “We all got out of there okay! That’s all that matters!”

“I just don’t think it’s a good sign that you seem to think of other team members as being expendable,” Anja accuses calmly.

“I don’t think that at all! I had no reason to believe at the time that Ted was in any immediate danger!” Ashley says defensively. She sighs very loudly. “Ted, what do you think? Should I have stopped by to get you on the way?”

“I think that you kids are all out past your bedtimes,” he says bluntly, “and it’s making you grouchy. We can talk about this in the morning.”

“Yeah, I wanna go home and go back to sleep!” Nova complains. “Can someone drive me home? It’ll take way too long to walk.”

“I’d really rather not wake up my parents at 2 AM and try to explain why they need to drive two of my friends home,” Ashley says.

“Well, it would be much harder to walk to your place from here now, since we no longer have our extended endurance from being in the Metaverse,” Anja reasons. “Plus, it’d be dangerous. And suspicious looking if you ran into any cops. At least in the Metaverse we could sneak past most of the shadows wandering around. How about this- my place is much closer to here, so we can make our way there and then I’ll drive you.”

“Okay, that works,” Nova agrees. Anja sets Ted back on the ground and gets on her feet.

“Thank you very much for helping me get out of there,” I say to Ted politely. I look at Nova. “And the same to you.”

“Eh, I wasn’t gonna just leave you two there,” he replies. “C’mon, Anja, let’s go. I feel like I’m gonna be sick if I’m awake for much longer.”

* * *

<Ashley>

Zoe and I make our way back to my place. Thankfully, the back door is unlocked, as I wasn’t looking forward to having to use the Metaverse to get back in and risking running into Moloch again.

We quietly open and close the door, and then tip toe through the living room and back into our hallway.

“Okay, let’s get some sleep,” I tell Zoe in a low voice as we arrive at her room.

“Um… can I sleep with you tonight?” She whispers back. “Right before I ended up in that other world, I was having this horrible dream where I was drowning in oil… I’m worried it might happen again.”

“Okay, sure,” I say, leading her to my room instead. This does make me wonder… how on earth did Zoe even get into the Metaverse to begin with? Furthermore, what was Moloch’s operation supposed to be here? His actions honestly seem totally irrational in hindsight… but my brain is too fuzzy to think about this right now, so I try and put it out of my mind.

Anyways, Zoe and I snuggle up together in my bed, and I’m back asleep in no time.

* * *

I’m in the middle of what looks like a football field, sitting down. I’m wearing a loose white t-shirt, short shorts and tennis shoes, just like I would be during practice. I can’t see the stands, but I can just… feel that there are people there. I feel a strong sense of hostility coming from each and every one of them. It makes me feel very much alone.

Then, I see someone walk up to me. It’s my mom. Ominously, her eyes are glowing red, and dislike is etched into her features.

“LIKE MAGGOTS, THE SPAWN OF MY OLD ENEMIES CRAWL OUT OF THE GARBAGE TO IRRITATE ME AGAIN!” She says. Her voice is horrible and unnatural, echoing throughout the whole stadium. “DON’T YOU DARE THINK THAT YOU’VE WON. ALL YOU DID WAS RUN AWAY, BECAUSE YOU WISELY JUDGED THAT YOU HAVE NO CHANCE OF BEATING ME. THIS IS MY COUNTRY, YOU HEAR ME? THE CHURCH IS MY BITCH! THE MEDIA IS MY BITCH! AND SOON, EVEN THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE MY BITCH! YOU CAN’T CHANGE ANYTHING. EVEN IF YOU DO SOMEHOW MANAGE TO CHANGE YOUR PASTOR’S HEART, IT’LL BE INSIGNIFICANT IN THE GRANDER SCHEME OF THINGS!”

Seeing my mother yell at me like this, combined with the generally oppressive atmosphere, is absolutely horrible. I feel like I may break down from it…

“ANYWAYS, TAKE THAT MESSAGE TO HEART, AND NEVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN, UNLESS YOU WANT TO END UP LIKE POOR SUZY…”

At that point, my vision started to blur and become tinted red. My head is pounding, pulsing so hard that I can see my own heartbeat. The football field disappears, and instead I am in some sort of empty room. In front of me now are three little girls, sitting on the floor. They can’t be older than 10. One of them is a Hispanic girl with bushy hair; one has straight, blonde hair; and one looks sort of androgynous, with medium length brown hair sort of like Anja’s and glasses. All three of them look extremely scared and helpless… The blonde one in particular is crying. I feel nausea in my stomach. There’s something horribly wrong with what I’m seeing. I fight it the best that I can. _No, I don’t want to see this. I want to wake up. WAKE UP…_

The room disappears, and I hear a malicious laugh in my ears, so loud it seems to fill my very soul. Now, all I can see is a strange, red and black spiral, which I seem to be falling down infinitely.

“YOU STILL GOT SOME SPUNK!” The voice says again. “WELL, MAYBE I SHOULD GO BACK AND TORMENT MY EASIER TARGETS FOR A WHILE. BUT DON’T WORRY… I’LL BE BACK LATER TO FINISH OFF YOUR LITTLE GANG. SO IN THE MEANTIME, DON’T YOU DARE MISBEHAVE, ASHLEY. ASHLEY. ASHLEY…”

* * *

The spiral fades from my vision, and I’m back in my room. The lights are on, and Zoe is on top of me, trying to shake me awake. My heart is racing way too fast, and I have to pant to keep up with it.

“Ashley, are you awake?” Zoe simpers, looking extremely worried.

“Yeah… what…?”

“While we were sleeping, you started thrashing around like you were having a seizure… it was really scary,” Zoe explains.

“Are you okay? Do you need something to drink?” Mom asks me. I turn my head, just now noticing that she was at my bedside. For some reason, the sight of her makes me feel an inexplicable sense of dread.

“Yeah… and maybe an exorcism, too,” I say weakly. “What time is it?”

“About 3:30 AM,” Mom replies. She’s giving me a dark look. I hope that she doesn’t think my “exorcism” comment was serious.

“What was happening to you?” Zoe asks me.

“I was having a really bad dream… I think,” I explain. I try to remember what it had been about. I remember feeling really alone… someone was lecturing me with incoherent rambling… something about three little girls… It’s all fuzzy in my head now.

“Okay. Well, try and calm yourself down. I’ll go get some water,” Mom says to me. As she’s getting up, however, I get a sudden, random urge.

“Mom?” I say to her. “Do you still love me?”

She turns back and looks at me with a sympathetic expression. “Of course I do, sweetie.” She bends over and gives me a kiss on the forehead, before leaving the room.

I don’t know what possessed me to ask that. I feel kind of stupid about it now. Still, her simple assurance made me feel a lot calmer. It makes me feel a sense of contentment from deep inside of me that’s hard to describe. Then, I suddenly realize this is the first time she’s called me “sweetie” in years…

“Ashley? You look really sad about something,” Zoe says to me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I respond, trying to get myself back together. “Let’s just try and not go on any more late-night Metaverse adventures if we can help it. I think that experience somehow addled my brain…”

Zoe nods in agreement. “Yeah, that whole thing was really scary…”

With that, my mom brings me a glass of water and bids us good night, thankfully not making any comment about us being in the same bed. After drinking some, I say a quick prayer that Zoe and I will be able to sleep at least a few more hours without any more nightmares, and I go back to bed.


	37. Hive Mind (September 22 Part 3)

<Anja>

“It’s time to wake up,” I hear my father say.

Ugh… I don’t wanna…

“I’ve already let you sleep in fifteen minutes. You need to get breakfast.”

I reluctantly tear my eyes open and start getting into a sitting position. “Okay. I’ll be out in a minute,” I tell him. He closes the door.

Bleh. As if Mondays weren’t already bad enough, having to go on a mini adventure in the middle of the night wasn’t good for my sleep cycle. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except I kept myself up later than I should’ve by thinking about this Metaverse stuff. Not like I was really able to conclude much.

Upon getting out of my bed, I find that my body is not happy with me for the events of the night… maybe I should stay home sick today. Anyways, either way I better go out and get some waffles.

As usual, Dad is sitting in the living room watching TV. As I’m heating up the waffles, I like to catch a couple of news stories.

Apparently there was a climate change demonstration in New York City yesterday. Cool.

Sierra Leone is on lockdown to stop the spread of Ebola. I’m glad I’m not there, that sounds horrible.

Wildfires in California are getting worse. I hope that gets resolved soon.

“So Anja… what were you doing in the middle of the night?” Dad asks me unexpectedly. “I heard your car start.”

Awh, shit! I’ve been caught! Well, I guess I better tell the truth- or part of it, at least.

“I… had to give one of my friends a ride home,” I answer, as I take my now finished waffles out.

“Really? At that hour?”

“Yeah. He, uh, went on a walk, and got lost.”

“It’s dangerous to be out walking around the town that late at night!”

I give a fake laugh. “Yeah, he, uh, makes pretty poor life decisions. But you know… I don’t have that many friends. So when one of them needs me… I want to be there for them.”

“Well, I certainly understand that. Just make sure that he knows to not put you in that situation again.”

“Oh trust me, I will,” I say while smothering my waffles with syrup. “I gave him an earful the whole way home…”

Ha! I did it! The powers of emotional manipulation pulled me through. I guess some of Mom’s politicking skills got passed down to me after all.

* * *

I arrive at the library to see that the others didn’t sleep any better than I did. Ashley looks visibly grouchy, but is still keeping herself awake enough to furiously fumble through a set of flash cards. Zoe is leaning on her shoulder, her eyes only half open. Nova is asleep on the floor, using his backpack as a pillow.

I take my seat across from Ashley. “So, we all made it here, somehow,” I say conversationally.

Ashley puts her flashcards down. “Yeah, somehow. Did you have any nightmares?”

“Uh, me? No,” I reply.

“Interesting… why was it just me then?” She asks nobody in particular.

“Well, I did have this one weird dream a couple nights ago. I was standing at the front of a boat, like that one scene in _Titanic_. Then, in the distance I saw these flying fish, and…”

“Let me explain why I asked you that,” Ashley cuts me off sharply. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I have a feeling that the nightmare I had last night was actually a sort of parting message from Moloch.”

“Oh really? What was it like?”

“I barely remember it. But I do remember that it started in that football stadium area. The one we stumbled across in Pavia’s palace. My brain may have just been recycling the imagery… but somehow, I don’t think so. Someone was standing over me, rambling at me. They looked like my mom, but it wasn’t really her… this person was clearly someone evil. It was mostly just a bunch of nonsense, honestly. I can’t really remember anything specific from it. But then, I saw these three little girls… and the other person said something about how they were going to go ‘terrorize easier targets’ or something, and that they would ‘be back for us later.’”

“Huh… that’s interesting,” I say. “If you’re right, and this was some sort of weird message from Moloch… that would imply that we’re not the only ones. There may be another team out there also trying to work against him.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Ashley says, shrugging. “I’ll have to ask Lucy about that when I get a chance. I would do it now, but...”

“Don’t want to end up back in Tentacle Rape Forest,” I finish for her.

At these words, Zoe’s eyes suddenly fly open. “Wh- what… did you say?” She asks, a look of utter horror on her face.

“We’ve discovered that there’s a palace right here at the school,” Ashley explains to her. “So obviously, we can’t enter the Metaverse here willy nilly.”

“That’s horrible… who could it belong to?” Zoe wonders.

“We have no idea,” Ashley tells her. “We really should go through it at some point, but I think it’d be a good idea to learn about who it belongs to first.”

“Yeah. We need to have an idea of how the cognition is distorted or whatever. Like Lucy said.”

“Indeed. And on that note… I have a theory.”

“Do tell!”

“I think that what happened to the Baptist church is a palace as well, just one of a different sort. It appears differently because it’s not just the palace of one person; it’s the palace of the whole community.”

“Wow, interesting theory. That would explain those weird pools we found.”

“Indeed. And thankfully, Zoe’s whole situation has given us some idea of how the church will act when it’s under pressure. They all seem intent on keeping the status quo, even when doing so defies all logic. In addition, they all seem to look after their own, until ‘their own’ challenges said status quo. Based on the testimony of my parents, the others in the church are overwhelmingly siding with Zoe’s parents on the issue, even though they’re literally having to make shit up to look better.”

“Ah, okay. So, bearing that in mind, what do you think the palace will be like?” I ask her.

She thinks about it for a moment. “Maybe like… zombies. You know, everyone just doing their thing mindlessly.”

“Yeah, maybe. I was thinking… it’s almost sort of like the military,” I suggest. “It’s all just about following orders… don’t ask any questions, just listen to your superiors. Any deviation from the norm will be harshly punished. After all… isn’t that just what religion is?”

Ashley gives me a stern look for this. “No, it is not! But it does unfortunately give power-hungry people an easy way of emotionally manipulating others, which is why it often turns out that way,” she admits begrudgingly.

Ashley glances at Nova, who’s still fast asleep on the floor. “Well, we’ll probably have to re-explain all of that to these two, unfortunately,” she laments.

“Wha… No, I was paying attention,” Zoe says unconvincingly. But I know better… I saw her fall back asleep while we were talking about palaces.

* * *

<Ashley>

Time for a Human Geo quiz again. It couldn’t have possibly been on a worse day, but whatever. I don’t get to pick when I randomly get supernaturally assaulted.

Diana is now pretending that I don’t exist, which is perfectly fine with me. That said, my studying is still interrupted by someone who _I_ wish didn’t exist…

“Hey Aaashley. Can I borrow your cards?” Mason says to me tauntingly. “I need your _cards_ , Ashley.”

“I’m not in the mood today,” I tell him bluntly.

“You’re never in the mood,” he says, sneering at me.

I’m in the middle of thinking of some horrifyingly violent threat I can tell him, but before I can, he starts speaking again.

“Hey… like I told your friends, I didn’t know about you and Zoe when I asked her to the dance,” he told me. “Just wanted to make sure you knew that since you seem to be the _possessive_ type.”

“Yeah, I really don’t care,” I tell him, trying to block him out so I can get back to reviewing.

“I just… hope there’s no bad blood between us,” he says. “I mean, between Zoe and I. I know there’s bad blood between _us_ , because you’re a total bitch. It’s inevitable.”

And the quizzes are being handed out, which means that asshole cost me my last minute of studying time. What was that about? Was that his idea of an apology or something?

* * *

<Collin>

Dad’s out somewhere when we get home from school, so I take this perfect opportunity to get some TV watching in… Hell yeah, Adventure Time is on.

I’ve only barely gotten settled when the phone starts ringing. I mute the TV and pick it up.

“Parker residence,” my Mom says, right as I’m opening my mouth to say hello. She must have already picked up the other phone in the master bedroom.

“Hey, honey. You somewhere private?” I hear Dad’s voice say.

“Yes I am,” Mom replies.

Oh wow… they didn’t hear me get on. I feel like I should hang up… but also, I’m kinda curious what they’re going to talk about…

“Well, just talked to Hurt again. Sounds like the police aren’t gonna be any help to us tomorrow,” Dad explains.

“Oh, that’s too bad to hear,” Mom says.

“Yep. Nobody’s buying our version of events, Marie. Hurt went down to their house just yesterday and talked with Zoe one on one. You know what she said? She said that she was there of her own accord, she wasn’t being forced to do anything, and she _didn’t want_ to go home. Well, that makes our story look like a whole bunch of kablooey. And he totally bought it, too. Told us we were wastin’ the time of the police! He even asked what he had done to make her leave. If this keeps up, we may have a child neglect case on our hands.”

“Oh dear, Abram. That’s most disappointing to hear. Caught between a rock and a hard place, are we?”

“Yep. You’re quick on the uptake as usual. Now, our _church_ believes the story, but the officials don’t. And if we just let her go, well, the church is gonna wonder why we got ‘em so riled up, aren’t they? So there’s only one thing to do. We gotta go get her back and get her treated at that hospital Jared told us about. The issue is, that comes with its own challenges. Those folks are stubborn as bulls, and they made it clear they’re not gonna let us just walk in and take her. If we do try, it could be a huge incident. Possibly one that involves a lot of crying and screaming. That doesn’t make us look good either.”

“Well, maybe it’s the best option we got. Sounds like the other options are riskier. Unless…”

“Whatcha thinking, hon?”

“If we got Jared to vouch for us, he’d be able to smooth things over. People trust in him.”

“Oh, those Davis folks sure don’t trust in him anymore. After those big, bleedin’ heart speeches?”

“I ain’t talking about _them_ , dear. I’m talking about the others at the church. Let’s face it. Those folks aren’t really bad people. And no matter how hard we try, nobody’s gonna believe that they’re bad.”

“Are you suggesting that we _do_ just drop it, then?”

“Yeah. And Jared can help the others see that we had no choice.”

“Maybe that could work… but _would he_ , Marie? I don’t think Jared would let us off the hook. Remember, he’s the one who came up with that idea for the conversion whatnot.”

“Awh, dang it. Maybe not.”

“I’m sorry Marie. We’re gonna have to stick to our guns. It’s the only way.”

“There’s another thing, honey…”

“What is it?”

There’s a pause, as Mom takes a few deep breathes before going on.

“This whole ordeal’s been real hard on Collin. You know that boy was always close with her. He took to her like he never took to either of his brothers. Always made me wonder if he’s not…”

“Oh honey, don’t say anything like that. I never want to have to go through this firestorm of events ever again.”

“I know, me neither. But that boy’s already been misbehaving’ worse than ever. What if we get Zoe off to that hospital and… he does something reckless?”

There’s a moment of silence, in which all I hear are both sides breathing.

“One child suddenly running off… we can spin that. Two children… well, that becomes a harder sell.”

“Exactly right, Abram. And I just can’t bring myself to tear apart my family even more.”

“Well, I certainly understand that. It would seem to go against the underlying idea of ‘family values’ if half of our kids are gone by the end of it. Hmm… tell you what, let’s talk about this when I get home. I need to run a couple of other errands, and I’ll think it all over. We may just be able to win our way out of this one if we play our cards right. But you’re right. There’s a lot at stake here.”

“Okay, hon. Talk to you when you get home, then. Bye bye.”

Both of them hang up. I just sit there for a while, suddenly feeling very cold. I really wish I hadn’t chosen to eavesdrop… that was a look into my parents’ ways of thinking I really didn’t need.

I no longer have any desire to watch TV, so I turn it off and go into my room.


	38. The Ultimate Evil (September 22 Part 4)

<Ashley>

After school, I finally sit down and have a talk with Lucy about everything that happened yesterday, as well as what we’re planning to do next. I much prefer talking over the phone to writing, as the latter cramps my hand after a while, so I went on a short walk to the Methodist Church and entered from there. In the Metaverse, the church is still utterly demolished. I do this in part so that Ted can listen to our conversation, since the others I can just message about it later.

I give Lucy a full account of the previous night’s events, including the upsetting dream that I had afterward, and the conversation that Anja and I had in the library. She is silent for a moment after I finish.

“Wow.” She finally says. “I’m very impressed that you all made it out of there alive. I’m so glad I thought to give you all the app.”

“I am grateful as well,” I reply. “Although they still seemed to be one step ahead of us. I doubt they would have set up a decoy with the Trooper if they weren’t expecting a coordinated reaction from us.”

“Indeed. But Ms. Trooper went and blew the advantage they had with her slip of the tongue about Zoe. Based on your accounts of recent events, I’m surprised at her incompetent behavior. It seems as if she has slipped over the years. Once upon a time, she was quite a clever opponent.”

“Maybe her statement about Zoe was on purpose?” I theorize. “Maybe Moloch told her to say something like that after a certain period of time, so that we could gather where Zoe was and he could finish us off.”

“I don’t think so, Ashley. I don’t think you really comprehend what he was trying to do last night.”

“Yeah, honestly I really don’t. Moloch’s plan didn’t make any sense to me.”

“It makes sense to me, but… getting you to understand is going to require quite a bit of elaboration on Moloch’s past behavior.”

“Well, go ahead then. I’m in the Metaverse, so I got time. And I don’t think Ted’s got anything to do today.”

“That’s very amusing, lass,” Ted growls at me.

“Alrighty then. Let’s get started,” Lucy begins. “The first thing that you need to know about Moloch is that he is powered by human suffering.”

“Hmm. You know, that actually lines up with some of what Zoe told me,” I observe. “She told me that there were some moments that night where Moloch seemed ‘hungry’ and said something about ‘having a meal’ while she was in pain from something.”

“Yes, that’s typical of him,” Lucy affirms. “I know many of us have a sadistic streak to our imaginations, but Moloch’s a little bit different than that. He literally _needs_ the power he gets from people’s pain to keep on living, both on a personal and global level. This is the rationale behind his facilitation of the creation of palaces, as he is effectively getting people to generate new suffering for him by empowering those who hurt others.”

“Aye, it also explains his brutal attack style,” Ted comments. “Bastard could have killed me in a second, but instead I was left to slowly bleed out.”

“It’s a _really_ damn good thing that our Personas are restored when we leave the Metaverse,” I note. “Otherwise Ted and I would basically be bloody piles of body parts right now.”

“I admire your resilience,” Lucy says. “It takes someone with thicker skin than average to go against Moloch, and both of you match that quality admirably. Bearing this in mind, it should make sense to you now why Moloch doesn’t go for the quick kill most of the time.”

“Except for at the very end, when he did,” I object. “Damn dude nearly snapped my neck. It was uncomfortable, sure, but still not the _most_ painful way to die.”

“Moloch probably thought that, with his plans for Zoe foiled, it would be in his best interests to wing it and try and take out as many of the rest of you as he could. And since he caught you alone, trying to kill you quickly was in his best interests. Think about it this way: if he got to torture one of you, that would’ve been like eating a meal he liked: nourishing and enjoyable. But if he killed you, and that made the rest of the team give up and stop infiltrating palaces, that would be like improving the quality of air in the place you live in. In the long term, the latter is much better for your overall health. If you had to pick between eating a Big Mac and having your town gassed with methane, or going without lunch but letting the air remain clear, you should pick the latter. There’s no comparison.”

“So that’s what he wanted to do with Zoe, huh?” I respond. “Kidnap her and hope that causes the rest of us to back off? Well, it wouldn’t have worked. Even for what he did to her and everyone else last night, I want to find that bastard and wipe him from the face of the earth.”

“Don’t be motivated only by revenge,” Ted gripes at me. “That’s not how you were called to live.”

“You sound like my mom,” I snap back at him. “If you knew how it felt, you’d think the same way.”

“I know much more about how it feels than you know, girl. Don’t test me!” he growls. For the first time since I’ve known him, he sounds legitimately angry with me. I guess I probably triggered a memory of something from his human life.

“Ted has a point, Ashley,” Lucy intervenes. “Trust me, I get it. I hate Moloch with all my heart for what he did to my old teammates, and others I’ve worked with along the way. But you need to remember the bigger picture, too. Getting rid of him will allow humanity as a whole to walk forward.”

“Right. I get it,” I agree begrudgingly.

“At any rate, part of the reason why I know what he was trying to do is because he’s pulled this same stunt before,” Lucy explains. “What you suspected from your dream is partially correct… there was once another team of young people I was working with to try and bring down Moloch. Unfortunately, Moloch was able to capture one of the friends of the team members, who was named Suzy, and drag her into the Shadow Realm. They thought that she was dead… the truth was actually worse than that. She re-emerged in the middle of a nearby forest two weeks later, naked and completely deranged. Her mind had been totally broken, to the point where she had lost the capacity for language. She’s been in a psych ward ever since, with no sign of recovery so far. After this, the rest of the team got cold feet and called it quits.”

There’s a stunned silence following this rather horrifying story. The name ‘Suzy’ sounds familiar to me from somewhere, but I can’t quite place it. Whoever she was, she was extremely unfortunate… I suddenly feel very afraid. If that had happened to Zoe… I don’t want to think about it. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten her involved with any of this…

But wait… Zoe didn’t even have her Persona or the app yet, but she still somehow ended up in the Metaverse. This brings me to a question I was going to ask…

“On that note… how the hell did Zoe get into the Metaverse that night?” I question Lucy. “I had brought her in there the day before, but there’s no way she should’ve been in there when I went back in to go help Nova.”

“Right. He only does this extremely rarely, but Moloch has the ability to drag people into the Metaverse with him if they haven’t awakened a Persona yet.”

I am very alarmed by this information. “Wait, seriously? But that’s horrible. He could literally do that at any time to any of our loved ones!”

“I guess he _could_. But he won’t,” Lucy assures me. “It takes a massive amount of energy from him to do so. I think after doing that, and then failing to extensively torture anyone, he’s probably gonna be out for months now. It’s not practical for him to do that on any sort of regular basis. The only real net benefit of his plan from last night would’ve been breaking up your team. Any torture time only would’ve partially recouped his losses.”

“Okay, that makes me feel a lot better,” I say, relieved. “I was imagining this dude was going around kidnapping people at random right and left.”

“Well, I guess it’s possible there are a few unsolved disappearances which are his doing. But he’d have to gain a _lot_ from it for it to be worth it.”

“Okay then. I guess the next question is… why go for Zoe specifically? How much does he know about our personal lives?” I remember what Zoe told me about his comments about us going against his ‘creation.’ “Is it because of her connection to the church palace?”

“Of that, I have no clue,” Lucy admits. “It is very strange, I agree. There’s no way he should be able to know that much about all of you, but his actions indicate that he’s gotten a head start in understanding your group and the lives you lead.”

“Maybe Pavia gave him the information,” I speculate. “I know that the two did talk directly.” But that doesn’t make any sense either, now that I think about it; Pavia wouldn’t have known anything about Anja and I.

“Maybe. Only time will tell, I suppose.”

“Fair enough. So, the dream I had last night…”

“Yes. The other main way Moloch can directly affect the real world is by giving people bad dreams. This seems to take significantly less effort than sucking people into the Metaverse, so he does it every now and then when he’s in a bad mood. I’ve been hit with those multiple times in the past. It’s okay, though; the nightmares that come from my own brain are usually worse anyway.”

“Interesting. So, he’s retreating to replenish his energy level, and just wanted to piss on my face real quick before he took off.”

“Yes, essentially. As you learned last time you saw him, he likes to mock you using whatever bits of information he knows about you. He’s… petty like that.”

I try and remember if there was anything especially personal in the dream, but it’s hard to remember. I remember feeling unusually… soft when I woke up, so there must have been something. That reminds me, actually…

“Oh yeah. I vaguely remember an image from the dream of these three young girls… but I didn’t recognize them.” I describe them to the best of my memory.

“Fuck him!” Lucy swears angrily. “That was Suzy and her teammates. How dare he bring them up. Those poor girls have been through so much…” Somehow, I get the feeling something happened even beyond the confrontation with Moloch she told us about earlier, but it’s not my place to ask about it.

“We’ll get him back. Don’t worry,” I say resolutely. “On that note… what do you think of my theory about the church?”

“Yes, our likely next target. I think that you have a good theory, given the information you’ve been able to gather. I’ve never seen a palace owned by more than one person before, but it makes sense in theory; if a group of people are like-minded enough, it seems logical that they would also share the same distorted desires. That will make your infiltration of the palace complicated, however, as there is no longer one central person you’re targeting.”

“Well, there sort of is,” I reason. “The pastor steers the ship, right? If we can get through to him, he should be able to sway the rest.”

“Well, you can try that. There’s just not a lot of precedent for this happening that I know of. It’s quite possible that it works the other way; your pastor is not acting out of his own will, but rather to appease the congregation at large.”

“Well, even if he’s a glorified figurehead, he has more chance of affecting change than anyone else,” I reason. “I’ve known Palmer for a while, and he’s a smart guy. I’m sure that, if he wanted to, he could put all of these fires out, and frame it in just the right way to get the rest to move on.”

“You know them all better than I do, Ashley. Whatever happens, the best of luck to you and Zoe. At least this time, you can probably count on not having Moloch interfere. Apart from his energy level, I have also been causing a ruckus where I am in hopes that it would draw him away from you.”

“Thanks, Lucy. That’ll help a lot. And I have a feeling that the Dark Trooper won’t want to mess with us for a while either. I gave her a pretty nice parting gift,” I explain, smiling a little despite myself as I remember it.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t worry too much about her. She’s much less threatening on her own anyway. Let me know when you clear the palace, or if you need help. Until then, I will talk to you later.”

“Okay. Bye,” I say. She hangs up.

Now that we are finally finished with our discussion, I take Ted and I back into the real world.

“Man, all of this supernatural bullshit makes my head spin,” I complain to him. “It’s like a rabbit hole that never ends.”

“Aye, there are things in this world that most humans weren’t meant to understand,” he comments sagely.

“Well, when you say it that way, that makes me feel kind of… elite,” I say. “Well, I guess I’ve always been one of the few who’s drawn to the more intellectual things in life. I get it from Dad. Well, both of my parents, honestly.”

“Excuse me, what are you doing out here?” A man’s voice asks from behind me.

I turn to see that it’s some middle-aged balding dude, presumably someone working at the church who isn’t used to seeing people around at this time.

“Just hanging out,” I tell him. “I find this is a relaxing place to sit after school.”

“And just who are you talking to?” he asks.

“Nobody. I find that it helps me think to bounce ideas off of myself,” I say.

He gives me a slightly creeped-out look, like he’s under the impression I’ve lost my marbles. Actually, that’s kind of strange. Couldn’t he hear Ted talking? Ted wasn't speaking particularly quietly, so if he heard me, he should’ve heard him too. Ah well, it’s probably for the better if he didn’t hear Ted’s side of the conversation anyway.

“What is that on the table?” He asks me sternly. “Young miss, that’s a wild animal! You should not be playing with it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m great with animals,” I assure him. That said, I picked Ted up from the table and set him on the ground. “Better skedaddle, little buddy,” I tell him. He wisely heeds my advice and makes his way back to the forest.

I turn back towards the old man, who seemingly just had his worst fears that I’m a lunatic who talks to animals confirmed. “You better get on home,” he tells me.

“Yeah, fine, I will,” I say. I hurry and do so, since I feel like if I don’t he may call the police on me.


	39. Duty Calls (September 23 Part 1)

<Zoe>

After school, I’m changing out of my sweaty band practice clothes when I hear a knock on the door. Since my room is right next to the front, I can also hear some low voices. After I get fully changed, I peek to see that there are a few cars in front of the house, and- my anxiety spikes- one of them is my dad’s.

I quickly get out my phone and open Collin’s messages.

Collin?

What’s up sis?

I see our father’s car in front of the house.

Oh shit

You mean Ashley’s house

Yes.

Well I guess that explains why neither of our parents are here right now.

Did you hear them say anything about what they were doing?

Well, this doesn’t seem good.

I did happen to overhear something yesterday.

They were talking about how to get out of this situation

They said they don’t want to give up but the police weren’t helping them

Oh shit, you know what

I just realized, Dad did say something about doing something tomorrow

And that was yesterday

So

Uh oh

Collin, do you think they’ve come to try and get me?

Yeah

They’re going to try.

Dad was gonna come up with some plan of how to get you without causing a fuss

I gulp heavily. That would explain why there are more cars out there. They must’ve brought along some others in the church, thinking they’d have strength in numbers.

I run out of my room, breathing shallowly as panic overtakes my senses.

Ashley’s dad happens to be walking past at the same time. He looks at me curiously. “Hmm, is something wrong?” he asks.

“They’re at… it’s my… the door…” I have to stop and take a breath.

“Yes, I heard the knock,” he says calmly. “How about you spend some time in Ashley’s room while I meet with the visitors?”

I nod, and head for her room without needing to be told twice.

I barge into her room… and it looks like _she_ was in the middle of changing clothes…

“Oh… I’m sorry…” I stammer, starting to back out. “I didn’t mean to…”

“Zoe, it’s okay. Just get in here,” she tells me. “Close the door behind you, though.”

I step back in and shut the door, my face turning red. “Ashley… it’s them. They’re at the door. It’s just like I was afraid of,” I tell her, all the while trying not to look at her.

“Hmm. That’s not good,” she says. “Well, looks like we have a palace to go clear out.”

I gasp. “W-wait… right now?”

“Yep. Don’t get me wrong, I trust my parents to handle this, but I still think it’s time. By the way, you can look now.”

I turn to her, and she’s dressed back in regular leisure clothes.

“Ashley… I’m scared,” I tell her.

“I know. Come sit next to me,” she says.

I do as I’m told, sitting down pressed up against her. She gets out her phone.

“It’s time to get the team together,” she explains. “I think it’d be easiest to have them wait at the church so we can grab Ted, and we’ll just sneak out of the house using the Metaverse app. We just need to make sure we’re back before anyone checks my room, which should be easy given how slowly time moves on the other side. I hope that there’s nobody hanging around there this time… we might want to think of a new base of operations at some point.”

I nod, not really absorbing anything that she’s saying, and instead trying to steel myself for the task ahead.

* * *

In order to save time, we walk to the Baptist church through the Metaverse as a group. On the way, we run into a few shadows, and the others recommended that I use the opportunity to get used to using my Persona. Apart from the sleeping move I used on Moloch, I also have some type of move that hits enemies with a blast of radioactive energy.

Nova says that my skills seem to be well-rounded compared to the others in the group, because I have the shotgun to hit people up-close, the nuclear attack to hit people who are far away, and the sleep move for support. In contrast, Ted and Anja’s abilities are better at hitting enemies at a distance and supporting the rest of the team, but if they’re cornered, it’ll be difficult for either of them to fight their way out of it. On the other hand, Ashley and Nova have abilities that are extremely potent up close, but this means that they usually have to go directly into the fray to do damage.

All of the enemies we fight are distorted variations of wildlife you’d usually see around here, which makes me feel a little bit bad about killing them. Especially the coyotes, given how they’re a bit too similar to dogs. The others keep telling me that the animals aren’t real, so I’m not really harming anything, but it still makes me feel a little uneasy.

Eventually, we reach our church, which looks just as strange as Ashley told me it would. Even by the standards of everything else we do in this bizarre world, I feel pretty weird about walking into this fleshy, slimy building. Nova and Anja clearly share in my reluctance, as they both look slightly sick just looking at it. But Ashley is convinced that the entrance to the palace is in the sanctuary, so inside we go.

We have to carefully step through to avoid slipping. We walk into the sanctuary, where a huge, black void is instead of the stained-glass window.

“You think that we have to go through _there_?” Nova asks Ashley. “I don’t know, it looks like we’re just walking into a black hole or something.”

“Well, we can test that theory by throwing something into it,” Ashley explains. “If it seems to just get frozen there infinitely, we’ll know it’s a black hole.”

“Really?” I ask. “Why would that be what happens?”

“Well, you see Zoe, black holes have these things called ‘event horizons,’ in which…”

“Ashley… I get enough of this shit during chemistry class,” Anja interjects tiredly. “Can we just focus on the mission?”

“Hmmph. I always have to shush you two when you’re making pop cultural references and talking about hentai for no reason. And yet here I am trying to teach you something meaningful, and you don’t want to hear it.”

“Hey! The hentai thing only happened once!” Anja jabs at her. “Don’t go bringing that up again!”

I don’t know what “hentai” is, but I feel like now is the wrong time to ask.

So we continue walking towards the not-actually-a-black-hole, Nova laughing as we walk, as he was apparently very amused by the previous conversation. I, in contrast, feel successively more anxious with every step I take, and the uneasy feeling in my stomach grows more unpleasant. I just wish none of this had ever happened…

When we step up onto the stage, Ashley turns to face the rest of us.

“Okay, this is it. Any questions or comments before we begin?” she asks.

“Yes, I have a question for you and Zoe specifically,” Anja says. “Doesn’t it feel… a little weird to you two that we’re basically launching a full-out assault on your church?”

“Why would that feel weird?” Ashley questions her.

“I mean… you say that you still believe in your religion even after all of this, but we’re also about to attack a religious institution, which will probably have the effect of lessening its influence. Doesn’t that give you a little bit of cognitive dissonance?”

“No,” Ashley says simply. “You’re not really lessening your own food supply when you throw spoiled food into the trash, now are you?”

Anja shrugs. “Damn, all right. Just curious.”

“Okay. Well, if nobody else has any comments, let’s get this started,” Ashley says.

And so the five of us pass by the choir pews and walk into the void…

* * *

<Ashley>

I open my eyes, and everything looks normal. The sun is up, and the world looks as it should.

I look around. I appear to be in the commercial district of town, right across the street from the Buc-ees. I don’t see anyone around, but everything looks so… normal. Was I somehow sent back to the regular world?

…No, something is still strange here. I’m holding a weapon, but it’s not my usual sword; it’s a submachine gun. I glance down and identify it as an MP7. I also see that my clothes have changed- I’m now wearing what looks like an US military uniform.

What the hell? What happened to my Persona? Where are the others? I start to look around the area, keeping both hands on my new weapon as I do so.

Then, I hear gunshots, and something whizzing past me. I turn quickly towards the sound and see someone running towards me, gun pointed directly at my head. Acting on instinct, I take aim and fire. It’s a hit, and I see the other soldier fall down. I knew that going to the range with Mom and Dad was gonna pay off someday.

I walk over to the other soldier to investigate. He’s also wearing camouflage, but it’s a lighter, yellower shade than mine in. In addition, he has a mask around his head, covering everything but his eyes. He doesn’t appear to be actually dead, but he’s definitely incapacitated for now.

This churns in my mind as I walk past the Subway. It seems as if I was dropped into the middle of a war zone of some sort… but if that’s the case, why did I only run into one rogue soldier? Soldiers usually travel in packs during war… speaking of which, my priority for now should probably be to find the others. Presumably they also got dropped somewhere random in the middle of this mess.

* * *

<Nova>

Man, this is freaking me out. Where the hell is everyone else? Why am I by the tax office, of all places? Why am I dressed like some military dude? I have some really heavy gun in my hands with a really long muzzle. I gotta say, having the powers of Thor was much cooler. I mean, I guess this is kind of cool too, but it’s just not the same.

I walk across the street, where there’s some sort of other building. God damn it, I really wasn’t expecting this. No… come on, we’re in a war. I need to hold myself together… Hey, wait a minute. Isn’t that other building a police station or something? Oh man, I wonder if I’m going to get arrested for carrying this gun around, this looks seriously military grade. Actually, wait, never mind, I’m in Texas. I should be fine. Actually, wait, even if the gun is legal, I don’t have an open carry license. Shit!

As I’m halfway across the street, I hear footsteps. Uh oh… I don’t have anywhere to take cover! I swing around wildly to try and see who it is, but I’m too late. Before I can see my attacker, I get several lacerations right through the chest. Welp.

“Heehee… this is like shooting fish in a barrel!” I hear some lady say from behind me as I fall over on my face. Man, fuck that bitch!

Well, I suppose I’m dead now. I know my life kind of sucked, but I’m sad that I wasn’t able to live long enough to play the next Smash game…

…Except, wait. I’m actually fine. I’m suddenly standing on my feet again. I now appear to be near the Jack in the Box by the highway that runs through town.

Oh, okay. So if I get shot, I’ll just respawn. That helps take some of the pressure off. Still, that was humiliating. I need to be more careful about how I move around from now on.

* * *

<Anja>

It’s a good thing I had practice using a gun from wielding my Persona, because otherwise I would’ve been totally clueless right now. While the weapon I have now is a bit bulkier than the one I usually have, most of the mechanics carry over. By managing to hide behind buildings and some railroad signs, I’ve managed to pick off two other soldiers who tried to attack- not like I really understand what the actual objective is here. Anyways, I slowly walk around the side of the city hall, and then lock sights with two others. I raise my weapon to fire, and…

“At ease, soldier!” A man’s voice says. “We’re on your side!”

I pause, and then notice that the uniforms they’re wearing are different; they match my darker-green camo. The soldiers are two men; the one who yelled at me is thin and has short blonde hair, while the other one is a tall, hulking man with a bushy mustache. Neither of them look familiar to me.

“Oh… hehe, sorry,” I say, embarrassed. “Just getting a little paranoid out here.”

“Wait… Anja? Is that you?” The bigger man asks. In a rumbly voice that sounds really familiar to me…

“…Ted?” I ask, perplexed. “What the hell, man? You look completely different!”

“This is what I looked like as a human,” Ted explains. “Somehow, being here has allowed me to temporarily regain this form.”

“Well, does it feel good to not be stuck as an armadillo?” I ask him.

The blonde man gives me a funny look. “An… armadillo? What on earth are you talking about?”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. My name’s Anja, by the way.”

The man nods his head politely. “Nice to meet you. You can call me Cedric.”

“Ted and I need to round up the rest of our friends,” I explain to him. “If you wanna help, that’s cool with me.”

“Sounds agreeable to me. I’m trying to find out where my son ran off to.”

“Alright, strength in numbers!” I say.

“Be careful not to get hit, though,” Ted advises us. “You will be moved somewhere else in the town, and it will make it harder for us to meet up again. I learned that the hard way before I paired up with Cedric here.”

“Alright, noted,” I say. “Let’s go see if we can find everyone else.”

* * *

<Zoe>

I’m next to some building that I don’t recognize, hiding in between the building and the dumpster, hoping that nobody will see me. All I can do is sit here in my hiding place.

I’ve seen a few people walking around in what look like terrorist uniforms. I really hope that nobody sees me… I had a hard enough time fighting the shadows. I don’t know if I could ever bring myself to kill another person.

I just don’t know what to do. This isn’t at all what the last palace was like, based on the accounts of the others. While I still have my shotgun, my magic powers are gone. I just wish someone else were here with me. I hope that Ashley finds me soon. She’ll know what to do…

My heart starts to race all over again as I hear someone close to me. And they’re _running_ …

I scramble over to see what it is, to see someone in the terrorist clothing running towards me with a machete. This one is really short and skinny- not at all like someone who should be fighting in a war.

“I’ve got you now!” The terrorist says, in a girl’s voice. And then, completely on instinct, I fire on her with my shotgun, hitting her in the stomach while she was only a few yards away.

The terrorist screams and falls to the floor, clutching her stomach which is now pouring out blood.

Because of me… because I shot her.

I feel guilt cascade over me. “I… I’m sorry,” I say, even though I know it won’t do any good.

The terrorist doesn’t respond. She just writhes on the floor in pain.

This person I keep thinking of a terrorist… I don’t even know what she looks like. I slowly crawl over to her. I remove the mask covering her face, and then gasp when I find out that the person I just shot is none other than Yonca.


	40. Jihad (September 23 Part 2)

<Zoe>

“Zoe? Is that you?” She asks me weakly.

“Yonca, I’m so sorry,” I plead to her. “I didn’t know it was you!”

She shakes her head. “No, Zoe… I should be apologizing to you,” she says in between labored breaths. “Everything that Ashley said about me is true… I’m an utter coward. I abandoned you when you needed me…”

I shake my head back at her, tears forming in my eyes. “No… I just _killed_ you… you didn’t deserve that!” I say. “I… don’t want to fight anymore! I just want to leave this place!”

“Don’t feel too bad, Zoe,” she says, managing to smile at me. “I’ve been killed plenty of times already, and I always come back. You did put a dent in my KD ratio, though…”

HUH?

Right in front of me, Yonca’s eyes close for the last time… and then, her body slowly dissolves into a misty, white substance, which then disperses into the air and becomes transparent.

I sit there for a moment, dumbstruck by what she just said to me. Does that mean… I _didn’t_ kill her, then?

And then, something else unexpected happens. I’m surrounded with a sudden beam of light. When I re-emerge, I’m back in my regular Persona outfit.

My brain is swimming with confused thoughts. I suppose if the animals we met on the way here aren’t real, it stands to reason that the people in here may not be real either. I suddenly feel very silly for getting so upset… But then, why did my clothes just change? That doesn’t make any sense at all. And why did Yonca appear here, then? If this version of her isn’t real, did she mean what she said?

Even if it wasn’t real, I still feel rather upset from the trauma of believing I had killed one of my friends. I climb back behind my dumpster for a few more minutes to sort out my feelings.

* * *

<Ashley>

I manage to reach the freeway that cuts through town after carefully moving between places of cover. I slowly make my way past the wall of the overpass, using the shadow to veil myself from any enemies who may wander past. Then, I peak around the corner, and see a figure in the distance. Hey, wait a minute, I know who that is…

I put my hands up to signify peace and step out into the open.

Nova, predictably, jumps a foot in the air upon seeing me, and aims straight at my head.

“Don’t shoot! It’s me!” I say quickly.

“Oh… hey, Ashley,” he says, dropping his weapon with relief. “Hey… what the _fuck_ is going on here?”

“I’m not entirely sure either,” I admit. “This is certainly not what I was expecting.”

“Yeah, no shit!” he says. “This is _nothing_ like Pavia’s palace!”

“My best guess is that it’s some sort of weird entrance exam,” I tell him. “Remember how in Pavia’s palace, there was that first room which made us go crazy? This may be something like that.”

“This is way more elaborate than that, though,” he observes. “It’s more like when you’re playing a game, you walk into a level, and then suddenly you’re playing this unexpected mini game which is a completely different genre than the rest of the game.”

“If that’s how you want to think about it, whatever,” I say. “Anyways, have you noticed any patterns in this place?”

“Well, not yet. I do know what if we die here, we just kinda… respawn.”

“’Respawn,’ huh?”

“Yeah. I got snuck up on by some bitch, and then I reappeared somewhere else.”

“Hmm. Interesting,” I say. I’ve been acting extremely carefully up to this point, but this knowledge sort of lowers the tension a bit. “Anyways, let’s try and round up the rest of the group and figure this out,” I tell him.

“Aight. Let’s go,” he agrees.

* * *

<Anja>

Travelling in a group of three is much easier. With Ted and Cedric covering my flanks, we’re able to get rid of the next few enemies we run into without any fear of being snuck up on. Still, travelling through this mostly wide-open town makes me a little paranoid. All it’d take to break up our group is one very skilled sniper. I wish that we had more cover.

We’re eventually able to fight our way to the area where the soccer fields are. There, under the pavilion, I see another group of three, who seem to be talking to one other. There are two who are in the regular enemy uniforms, but there’s one who must be some sort of leader. He’s wearing an all-black uniform with a cap and a heavy-looking robe down to the knees. There’s also something about his form and body language that’s familiar to me…

“I see what you’re seeing, Anja,” Ted says behind me. “Seems like a great opportunity to get the jump on ‘em.”

“No… hold on,” I say. “I think the one in black is _my dad_ …”

“Your dad?” Cedric asks quizzically. “How can that be?”

“Idk… just don’t fire immediately,” I say.

I slowly step towards the pavilion, trying not to appear threatening. “Dad? Is that you?” I call out to him.

All three of the soldiers turn their guns towards me… but then, Dad holds out his arms. “Hold your fire!” He orders the other two.

I gesture for the other two to follow me, and then jog the rest of the way to the pavilion.

“Anja… how on earth did we end up on opposite sides of this war?” Dad asks me as I reach the pavilion myself.

“I have no clue, man… Honestly, I don’t even know what we’re fighting about at all,” I say, shrugging.

“Are you sure these are our allies?” Cedric asks me, him and Ted having just caught up, the former still holding up his weapon uncertainly. “They’re dressed in the clothes in the enemy.”

“Whatever. I’m not fighting my own dad!” I say decisively.

Ted nods. “Okay. Then I won’t fight either,” he says.

Then, something strange happens… I shed my military clothes and end up back in my typical Persona outfit. I turn back to Ted to see that he, too, has transformed back to his normal armadillo form, which earns a confounded look from Cedric.

“Wow… so he really _was_ an armadillo,” he says.

“You’ve made some pretty interesting friends there, Anja,” Dad tells me, which puts a smile on my face.

“As have you,” I say, looking towards the two others in his squad, a rather large Latino man and a very scared-looking African-American boy about my age. The second one catches my eye, because he has bright, green eyes that are unusual for a person of color.

“Anyways… it looks like you have your own mission to attend to,” Dad tells me. “Stay safe out there. And make sure you’re home for dinner!”

“Oh, don’t worry Dad, this won’t take any time at all,” I assure him, giving him one last hug before our two squads depart in different directions.

* * *

<Ashley>

Nova and I wander around for a little while, not talking much and focusing on not being ambushed. Eventually, we come across an odd part of town that I don’t think I’ve ever been to before.

“Hmm… maybe we should turn around,” I tell him. “I think we may be reaching the city limits.”

“Yeah, maybe… Hey Ashley! Look!”

I whirl my head around in the direction he’s pointing, and my heart is flooded with relief upon seeing that it’s Zoe, who’s running towards us from some generic building nearby.

She runs straight up to me and wraps her arms around me. I gladly return the hug.

“Ashley… I’m so glad to see you!” she tells me, her voice breaking. “This place is so weird…”

“I’m glad to see you too,” I tell her.

We break apart, and I notice something odd… she’s in her Persona clothes, instead of a military uniform like everyone else.

“How are you back in your regular clothes?” I ask her.

She frowns. “I don’t know…” Suddenly, her eyes light up. “Ashley, you won’t believe it- I saw Yonca!

“What? You saw Yonca?” I ask. “Why the hell is _she_ here? Her house wasn’t one of the ones linked to the church.”

“I don’t know, Ashley. I… I shot her… I felt horrible about it, but I think she’s okay? I’m really confused, though…”

“HIT THE DECK!” Nova suddenly yells.

I turn my head and see a couple of people in the opposing colors coming towards us from a nearby field. The three of us quickly scramble behind a wooden fence nearby for cover.

Unfortunately, we’re not quite quick enough to evade being seen, and the enemies start trying to shoot us through the fence. I try to send some bullets back at them, but it’s really hard to aim and dodge incoming fire at the same time.

“Crap! This is not good!” Nova stresses, trying to make himself as small as possible. “Zoe… since you still have your Persona, is there anything you can do?”

“Nothing we do here is _really_ going to cause anyone to die, right?” Zoe asks, frightened.

“No! Nobody’s going to die!” Nova assures her frantically. “I literally died earlier and I just popped up again somewhere else! Death has no consequence! But it’d still be pretty inconvenient if it happened to us, so…”

Zoe grimaces, stands over the fence, and fires her nuclear magic attack towards the two enemies. It’s a direct hit, and the two get utterly evaporated, leaving us alone once again.

Nova hears the noise, and then peaks around the fence to see what had happened. “Wow… I guess that’s what happens when you bring a gun to an atom bomb fight,” he comments, his body uncurling with relief.

“Well, magic attacks seem to be pretty effective against these soldiers,” I say. “Nova and I need to figure out if we can regain access to those…”

“Yeah, I want my hammer back!” Nova gripes.

Zoe, however, still looks a little bit uncomfortable. “Even if it’s all an illusion… it feels weird to be attacking other humans,” she admits.

“Well, you’re going to have to get over that pretty quickly,” I tell her bluntly. “Just remind yourself that this is all cognitive. We’re not attacking other people; we’re only attacking ideas.”

“Okay… I’ll try to remember that,” Zoe says, though she’s still grimacing a little bit.

“Anyways, let’s go and find our final two members,” I order, getting to my feet. The other two nod, and we start heading back into town.

* * *

Thankfully, we find Anja and Ted before too long. Like Zoe, they’re somehow still in their Persona outfits. They’re also joined by some blonde man. I don’t recognize him, but something about him makes me feel a little annoyed for some reason…

“Hey everyone!” Anja greets us. “Excellent. We’ve got the whole band back together!”

“And who is this supposed to be?” I inquire, looking at the blonde man.

“Um… my name’s Cedric,” he tells me uncertainly.

“He’s a stray we picked up on the way,” Anja tells me.

“Alright then. Next question: How do you guys still have access to your Personas?” I ask.

“It just sorta happened,” Anja explains, shrugging. “I ran into my old man, and refused to fight him, and then I got my magic back. Same thing with Ted.”

Zoe gasps, seemingly having a realization. “Ashley… that reminds me of something! I got mine back after I told Yonca I didn’t want to fight anymore!” she explains.

“Hmm… that’s interesting,” I say. “So all of you got them back after saying that you didn’t want to fight?”

“Sounds like it,” Anja says.

The apparent pattern here makes me want to try something. “I, Ashley Davis, no longer wish to fight in the war,” I declare.

It works. Within seconds, I’m back in my suit of armor, my gun being swapped for the usual sword.

“Uh… ditto,” Nova says, and the same thing happens to him.

“Alright! I’m _so_ ready for us to begin our new lives as draft-dodgers!” Anja jokes excitedly.

“Okay… with that over with, we need to figure out what the deal with this palace is,” Nova says seriously.

“Yeah, I really don’t get what’s going on here,” Anja agrees. “I don’t understand why the hell my _dad_ is here, of all people.”

I think about this for a moment. This palace represents the group cognition of our church… but people from outside the church are showing up too. And they’re showing up as enemies, from what I can gather… This gives me an idea.

“Hmm… your dad works as a shrink, right?” I ask Anja.

“If you mean a psychiatrist, yes.”

“And he’s not really the religious type?”

“Nope. He was ‘raised Catholic,’ as they say.”

I gesture at Zoe. “Well, she also ran into someone she knows here… Yonca Bernard, from our school.”

“Oh, the Turkish girl? That’s interesting.”

“Yeah, it is. And I think I have a theory as to what’s going on here.”

“Well, you’d probably know better than me.”

“I think that… the people who we’re seeing here in the yellow uniforms are people who the church views as their enemies, or people who don’t fit into their world. For example, Yonca appears on the opposing side because she’s a Muslim.”

I let this idea settle for a few seconds. Nova looks particularly alarmed by this, for whatever reason.

“But then, why is _my dad_ here?” Anja asks, shaking her head. “He may not be personally religious, but he also doesn’t exactly go around burning churches and punching every Christian he sees on the street.”

“Well… our church doesn’t really seem to be too fond of the mental healthcare profession,” I explain to her. “A little something I picked up during my few years of going.”

Anja face palms with both hands. “Oh my god, you _have_ to be kidding me. Just when I thought this place couldn’t get any stupider!” She looks back at me with fury on her face. “Okay, I’m mad now. Let’s go plow some asses!”

“Hold on a second,” Nova interjects. “If the enemies are the people on the ‘other team,’ then why are all of us not counted as enemies?” He starts pacing a few steps back and forth. “Anja and I don’t go to your church. Your parents got kicked out. Zoe is… well, you know. And Ted… exists… uh…”

He stops pacing. “I lost my train of thought.”

“Here, I’ll help you out,” Anja says. “I think I know what you’re saying. The five of us must be exceptions since we entered this place through the portal in the church. Like, the palace assumes that we’re people who go there because that’s where we entered or something.”

“Hmm… that would explain why we got our forms back after refusing to fight,” Zoe says in agreement.

Ted clears his throat. “This place we’re in… it’s a replica of your town, correct?” he asks the group at large.

“Yep. Down to the last detail,” I say. “It’s honestly kind of eerie.”

“If I had to make my own guess… we should make our way back to where the church is in the town,” he says. “There, I expect that we’ll find the _real_ palace.”

“Yeah, that makes sense to me,” Anja agrees. “It’s at least worth a shot. Hehe, get it. _Shot_. Because we all have guns.”

“We don’t have guns anymore, though!” Nova reprimands her. “You should’ve made that pun a few minutes ago when we did.”

“Well, Zoe, Ted, and I still have guns, but I get your point,” Anja concedes. Then, her face suddenly breaks into a mischievous grin. “Oh, I just remembered something I need to tell you! Before Ted got his Persona back, I saw his human form!”

“Wait, really?” Nova asks. “What did he look like?”

“He was this huge man, over six feet tall, who had big muscles and a burly moustache,” Anja explains.

“Yeah, it was nice not to be treated like a little animal for a few minutes,” Ted comments with a touch of bitterness in his voice.

“Don’t be too disappointed,” I assure him. “At least you have your badass fire magic back now.”

“I didn’t realize that Ted _had_ a human form,” Zoe says, her eyes wide.

“Well, he did say when we first met that he used to be human,” I explain. “Speaking of Personas… Zoe, I never _really_ got to tell you this, but I think your Persona’s outfit looks really good on you.”

She grins at me and blushes. “Oh, um… thank you! Yours is really… imposing as well.”

“Yeah, kind of looks like Cleopatra to me,” Anja comments. “Hey, wait a minute… if Zoe is wearing Cleopatra’s outfit, wouldn’t that technically be cultural appropriation? You know, since she was Egyptian, and…”

“Who cares?” I cut her off, rolling my eyes that she’d bring up something pedantic like that. “Look, chatting has been fun, but I think we should quit wasting time and head to the church.”

“Um… I guess I might as well go with you guys,” the man named Cedric says. All the rest of our heads turn towards him- personally, I had totally forgotten he was there. “It’s only a matter of time before everyone finds out that I’m secretly in love with another man… and if what you say about this place is true, that means I’ll be considered one of the enemies once the cat’s out of the bag.”

“We’re glad to have you along!” Anja says, grinning at him. “All manner of gays and weirdos are welcome in our group.”

“Alright, I guess you can come too,” I say. “Let’s get moving already.”

* * *

<BBD>

Real quick, I just wanted to mention that the one joke about Zoe’s Persona at the end there was written well before this recent dumb controversy about Gal Gadot, so it’s a total coincidence. For the record, while Cleopatra ruled over Egypt, she was ethnically Greek, so even if you’re a believer in cultural appropriation it’s not a problem.


	41. Enhanced Interrogation (September 23 Part 3)

<Ashley>

Travelling through the town with our Personas is actually really easy. The downside in shedding our military clothes is that we’re now being targeted by random townspeople on both sides. That said, the massive advantage having Persona powers gives us more than makes up for it. My lack of a ranged attack would normally be an issue, but my armor seems to actually protect me pretty well against gunfire. I’m pretty sure this wouldn’t be the case in real life, but I’ve long since learned to not even bother trying to apply regular logic to anything that happens in the Metaverse.

After breezing through the town, we arrive at our destination. What we see in the area where our church would normally be is quite a sight to behold. Instead of the church, we see what appears to be a huge military complex. It’s as tall as a skyscraper, and made of a slick, black stone that looks impossible to scale.

“Well, I think that Ted’s theory is most likely correct,” I comment, as we observe the building from the cover of some nearby trees.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Anja remarks. “Looks tougher than Fort Knox.”

“I expected it to be something like this,” Nova says. “It totally fits with the whole ‘war’ theme.”

“Oh yeah, speaking of which… I totally called it earlier!” Anja says, grinning at me. “Remember what I said in the library?”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember,” I say, rolling my eyes at her. “Don’t get too proud of yourself. Now we need to figure out how to get _in_.”

We’re all silent for a while, and we privately survey the area. There are a ton of soldiers swarming the area. Some of them are simply patrolling, while others are escorting prisoners into the building, their heads covered with bags. It being broad daylight, I figure that there’s probably no way that we are going to sneak into the building.

Ted breaks the silence. “Well, perhaps if we can’t get in as thieves, we can get in as prisoners,” he suggests.

“You mean we should… turn ourselves in?” Anja questions.

“We got someone with us still in his military uniform, don’t we?” Ted points out.

We all turn towards Cedric, who’s just sort of awkwardly leaning against a tree.

“Well, I don’t have any better ideas,” I say. “Are you willing to ‘Take us prisoner’?”

“Yeah, I’ll do it,” he agrees. “But do you really think that this is gonna work? It seems too easy.”

“Well, these Metaverse cognition people seem pretty gullible,” Nova comments, chuckling to himself.

“Actually, you’re probably right,” Anja agrees. “I mean, outside of the five of us, everyone here is a sort of puppet based on their lookalike’s desires. And desires… don’t think very much. No offense, Cedric.”

“No offense to what?” he asks, puzzled. His response serves to confirm Anja’s point for me.

“Okay then. Let’s get to it,” I say.

The others nod and start getting themselves into position… except for Zoe. The whole conversation, she’s been silent, and her gaze has been fixated on the fortress in the distance. Her face is pale, and she has a faint expression of revulsion.

“Are you okay, Zoe?” I ask her.

“I can’t believe this,” she tells me. “Is this really… the cognition of the others from our church?”

“Yeah, must be,” I say.

She shakes her head, her expression turning to anguish. “Soldiers fighting in a war? This is never how I thought about our faith.”

“Me neither,” I agree. “You’d think from this scene that nothing has changed since Jericho. Anyways, c’mon. We need to get moving.”

She nods resolutely, and we make to join the others.

* * *

The ruse is working so far; we’re able to get inside the base with no issue. Bringing Cedric with us ended up being a master stroke. Since he’s actually a denizen of this palace, the others in the base recognize him and refer to him as “Private.” In hindsight, I suppose it is rather odd that a cognition puppet version of someone would straight up defect to help us. Perhaps it goes to show that the community’s hold over everyone’s hearts isn’t as secure as they’d maybe hope for.

Inside, the sanctuary has been converted into a war room. The pews are gone. There are now soldiers buzzing from place to place, or else standing around near the walls and chatting. The five of us “prisoners” are presented to Mr. Stephenson, a bearded man who teaches one of the Sunday school classes (and also just so happens to be one of the people currently at my doorstep.)

“Excellent work, Private,” he says to Cedric. “Looks you found two of our runaways!” he continues, glancing across Zoe and I. “Take them to the re-education chamber. Zoe’s family is on duty there at the moment, and they will be happy to see that she’s returned.”

“ _Re-education chamber?_ ” Nova mutters disdainfully.

Stephenson ignores him and continues. “Let’s see here… looks like you also got a couple of unclean children and… what on earth is that thing?”

“My name’s Ted,” Ted introduces himself. “Nice to meet you.”

Stephenson frowns at him. “Ted? That sounds like something you’d name a bear. Not an armadillo.”

“It’s short for Theodore,” Ted explains. “I was named after the first President Roosevelt.”

Stephenson waves him off dismissively. “I don’t care. Just take all of them to the re-education chamber, then.”

“Roger, Sir!” Cedric replies enthusiastically. “Come with me, you _unclean_ lot!”

“You’re having way too much fun with this, man,” Anja mumbles.

He leads us out of the sanctuary and into the hallway. As soon as we exit the room, Cedric asks, “Umm… so, where’s the re-education chamber?”

“I don’t know, maybe Sunday School?” I suggest. “Go up the stairs, and I’ll direct us from there.”

“I can’t believe they let us through with our weapons!” Zoe marvels. “They really must not be very smart.”

“Well, that’s probably because they can’t actually see them,” Anja points out. “Our weapons only appear for us when we need them for battle. Haven’t you noticed?”

“What… oh!” Zoe exclaims, apparently having just noticed that her shotgun isn’t in her hands. “I hadn’t noticed that.”

“It’s okay. It’s something which the rest of us probably should’ve established already,” I say. “It makes sense, considering our Personas only appear behind us during battle.”

“Well, at least we get to keep our sick outfits!” Anja comments, smoothing out the front of her dress.

We walk up the staircase, and past the choir room. Inside, they are singing a very Celtic-sounding song:

_“My heart shall sing of the day you bring._ _  
Let the fires of your justice burn.  
Wipe away all tears for the dawn draws near  
And the world is about to turn.”_

“Yeah, it’s about to turn alright,” I comment lowly. “Just not in the way they think…”

“Quiet down!” Cedric whispers. “I hear someone coming.”

From around the corner, I can hear a couple of male voices talking.

“This is sooo boring,” says one of them, who sounds like a boy in middle school. “I just wanna go home.”

“Just stick it out for a little while longer, bro,” the other one says, sounding slightly older than the first one.

“You’ve been saying that for… wait, how long have we been here?” the first voice replies. “It feels like it’s been an eternity…”

Zoe gasps. “Those are my brothers!” She tells us softly.

She dashes to the edge of the hallway and peaks her head around the corner. I follow her, just to be on the safe side.

Sure enough, Derrick and Collin were the voices we had been hearing. Derrick walks through a glass door part way down the next hallway, but before Collin can follow him, Zoe is able to catch his attention by waving.

“Wh… Zoe?” Collin asks, sticking his foot in the door to keep it open. “What are you doing here?

“We came back to change everyone’s hearts!” Zoe explains. “Collin, do you know where the pastor is?”

Collin briefly glances left and right, and then starts to say, “Uh, yeah. I know where he is. He’s…”

Before he can finish, the glass door reopens, and Derrick’s voices says “C’mon, Collin! Quit lollygagging!” Collin gets dragged inside.

“Well, shit. He was about to tell us something very helpful,” I say.

“Hmm… we probably won’t meet too many other friendly people with that information,” Anja reasons. “Let’s see if we can follow him.”

We walk up to the door. Though the door is made of glass, we can’t see anything from the other side but a dark hallway. The sign overhead says “ _Re-education_ ,” but this isn’t the Sunday school like where I thought this would be; it’s some room that is usually used for storage. It also won’t open; there’s little red light on a widget to the side, suggesting that it’s unlocked by some sort of key card.

“Do you have clearance to get us through here?” I ask Cedric.

“Uh, no,” he says. “I’m just a private.”

“Well, we’re supposed to be in there anyway, aren’t we?” Anja reasons. “We’re ‘prisoners,’ remember? Let’s just get some other random guard to let us in.”

“Actually… hold on,” Nova says. “I don’t think we all need to go in there. That beard guy said that Zoe’s parents are in there, and if they see either Ashley or Zoe, it’ll end up being a big drama.”

“Ooohhh, I see what you’re saying,” Anja says, comprehension dawning on her. “It’d be easier if just _one_ of us went in there. I’ll just ‘get caught,’ get thrown inside, ask Collin for the info, and then sneak out.”

“That should work,” I agree. “However, the rest of us should get somewhere where we can survey the situation, just in case.” I gesture towards the room to our right, which is labelled “Observation Room”.

Nova grabs the doorknob and yanks the door open. Inside is a desk with a row of chairs next to what is most likely a one-way mirror. However, there is currently only one person inside; our current youth pastor, Garrett, who is draped across his chair lazily as if he had just been nodding off.

“Uhh… what are you guys doing?” He asks, looking at us with surprise.

Before he can do anything else, I punch my sword right through his chest. For a moment, he simply sits there, utterly stunned, and then his body dissolves into a shadowy substance.

“Ooh… you didn’t tell me you were about to do that,” Zoe says, cringing at the unexpected violence.

“Yeah, well, I always found him annoying,” I admit. “I wanted to savor the moment.”

Zoe gives me a look which I have seldom seen on her face before; disgust. I feel rather ashamed of myself all of a sudden.

“Well… if the room is secure, I’ll go do my part,” Anja says awkwardly. She backs out of the room and into the hallway.

To distract myself from the uncomfortable moment, I look and see what’s happening on the other side of the one-way mirror. I immediately wish that I hadn’t.

The scene that meets my eyes is a middle-eastern man who is tied to a steel table, suspended over a tank of water. The man is currently gasping for air and has water all over his face, suggesting to me that he’s already taken at least one plunge. The tank is in the middle of a dark room with no decorations. Zoe’s parents are standing by a few feet away, both very well-dressed and seemingly discussing something. Collin and Derrick are now skulking against the wall, looking as if they’d rather not be there.

“Wow, I know you guys are ‘Baptists’,” Nova comments, “But this is pretty hardcore!”

“This is less like baptism, and more like _waterboarding_ ,” Cedric comments, frowning.

I turn away from the window, and notice that Zoe has taken a seat and has started crying. I quickly sit next to her and put an arm around her.

“Look, Zoe. I’m sorry that I stabbed Garrett,” I tell her soothingly.

She shakes her head. “N-no… that’s not it…”

Oh. Right, it’s probably pretty shocking for her to see her own family violating the eighth amendment. Not knowing what to say, I sit there and hold her for a while.

Then, we hear Anja’s voice shouting from the hallway, most likely trying to catch the attention of a nearby guard. It’s immediately clear to me why she volunteered herself for this.

“Hey you!” she yells. “You won’t believe this! I just got a vision from God!”

“Huh? What?” says a soft male voice that I think might be someone in the choir. “What are you doing here?

“I told you, I just met God!” she shouts. “And guess what? She’s black! And God also showed me a vision that revealed that Jesus was gay! I saw him sneak into the bushes with John and have anal sex with him!”

I really hope that the one-way mirror is soundproof, because Nova falls onto the floor and starts laughing like a hyena. I’m personally unable to suppress a snicker. Even Zoe seems to be cheered up; she’s wiping away her tears, and now has an expression that’s a mix between amusement and horror.

“How could you say such blasphemous things?” The male voice said. “Are you unclean? Where are you supposed to be?”

“I bet she escaped from re-education,” a bossy female voice says. “Grab her other arm! We need to make sure she doesn’t get away.”

“I don’t wanna be ‘re-educated’!” Anja screams. “Come on, just admit it. Your stupid religion is nothing more than a glorified book club that you’ve been carrying on for millenia so you have an excuse to oppress women! Eve’s only sin was thinking for herself!”

“Okay, she’s gone to too far now,” I say, making a mental note to smack her next time that I get the chance. Nova, on the other hand, laughs even harder to the point of literally rolling on the floor. Cedric just sort of leans against the wall, clearly wanting to laugh too but trying _really_ hard not to.

* * *

<Anja>

I continue to spout every religion-based insult that jumps into my head as the two boring adults drag me through the doorway.

“God is dead! Jesus was the descendant of a prostitute! Moses was a murderer! David was a rapist! Paul was a heretic! Joseph Smith was a pedophile!”

“We don’t even believe in Joseph Smith!” the man accosts me sternly.

“What? Oh, right, that’s Mormonism,” I concede. “Uh… okay I give up. Damn hell fuck slut shit ass bitch cunt piss bastard motherfucker shitface whore…”

The woman has clearly had enough of my shit, and punches me squarely in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me.

“You foulmouthed cretin!” The woman shouts at me. “You are not even fit to step foot into this sacred place!”

“Ooh… that’s so kinky, mommy,” I moan. “Please hit me again…”

I am roughly thrown on my face onto the floor. I flop onto my back and look at my captors. I’m amused to see that the lady is blushing furiously, while the man just looks utterly shocked.

“Boys… tie this one up so she doesn’t get loose again,” the man says to two boys nearby who I assume are Zoe’s brothers.

“But I want yoooou to tie me up, mommy,” I say in a sultry voice. “I’m soooo lesbo for you…”

“Let’s get out of here,” the woman says frantically. “I’m going to need to take a shower after touching that thing.” They both speedily walk back out through the door.

The shorter of the two boys, who must be Collin, kneels next to me with a coil of rope hanging on his right arm.

He cautiously looks left and right. “I’m not gonna lie… that whole bit was lowkey kind of hilarious,” he tells me. “I gotta give you some respect for that.” Suddenly, he gives me an inquisitive look. “Hey… do you _really_ think that Jesus was gay?”

“Dude, I don’t fucking know,” I say. “Look, I’m friends with Zoe. I just came in here because you were about to tell us where that Palmer guy is.”

“Ooh, you must be Anja!” he says, recognition dawning on his face. “Wow, you really are short.”

“Oh, fuck off!” I jab at him. He laughs at me.

“Collin? What on earth are you doing over here?” a different voice says. I look up to see that it’s a blonde woman who must be Zoe’s mother, who has her hands on her hips and is glaring at Collin rather like a saber tooth tiger.

“Oh, uh, I’m tying up the prisoner,” he says, hastily starting to unravel the rope.

“Here, I’ll handle her,” she says. She puts her arms under and picks me up in a fireman’s carry with surprising strength.

I’m thinking about continuing the “lesbian BDSM” skit from earlier, but then I glance in the direction that she came from and such thoughts are wiped from my mind by the horrifying sight of a man being drowned by Zoe’s dad.

“Oh my god,” I say. “That’s inhumane.”

“Well, behave yourself, and maybe we’ll consider letting you off easy,” Zoe’s mom says. “I admit that I don’t really like the idea of interrogating someone as young as you.”

Zoe’s dad uses a handle to lift the man out of the water, and he quickly gasps air into his lungs for dear life, shivering from the cold.

“Now… pledge your allegiance to our God, and we’ll let you go!” Zoe’s dad commands.

“I do… I have always been pledged to God… I pray to Him every day!”

“LIES!” Zoe’s dad shouts. “You don’t pray to the real God. You pray to Allah, don’t you?”

“’Allah’ is just the Arabic word for ‘God’, dipshit!” I shout, not able to contain myself.

Zoe’s mom hisses in annoyance. “That was your one chance, little girl, and you just blew it,” she chides me. “In this family, we have no tolerance for children who sass their elders.”

“Oh, I know that already!” I say back. “I know what you did to your own daughter. You two are nothing but a couple of homophobic pieces of shit in my eyes.”

“Good news, Mr. Bernard,” Zoe’s dad says while untying the other man. “We’re going to give you some time to… reflect by yourself.”

The man named Bernard quickly gets to his feet and, still shivering, runs out of the room.

“Uh… wait a sec,” I say, realizing what’s going on too late. “I’m not into _real_ torture… oh fuck.”

“Should’ve thought about that sooner,” Zoe’s mom says sadistically.

I glance at my reflection in the mirror on the other wall. “Uh… okay guys… a little help?”

* * *

<Zoe>

Ashley hisses with annoyance. “Ah, leave it to Anja to take things a step too far and get in trouble,” she says, getting to her feet. “Alright, looks like it’s time for plan B.”

“What’s plan B?” Nova asks.

Ashley wildly swings her sword over her head and at the glass, causing it to shatter into pieces. Without further ado, she steps over the frame and into the re-education room. Nova and Cedric shrug and follow after her.

“Can you give me a lift, Jolene?” Ted asks at my feet.

“Um, it’s Zoe. But yes, I will.”

I grab him by the scruff of the neck and follow after the others, internally bracing myself to face my parents again.

I step over the windowsill to see Ashley brandishing her sword at my parents, Mom holding Anja in her arms.

“…So just put her down, and we’ll be on our merry way,” Ashley is saying as I set Ted back down on the floor.

“You were very foolish to come back here, Ashley,” Mom says, unceremoniously dropping Anja onto the floor. Something weird is changing in her eyes…

“Didn’t your parents relay the message to you?” Dad says, a shadow falling over his face. “You’re not welcome here…”

“Uh… what the fuck is happening?” Nova asks. “What’s wrong with them?”

Then, both of my parents are engulfed in shadows. They each emerge in completely different forms. Dad reappears as a tall man made of gold with a huge, angelic wingspan behind him. And Mom re-emerged as a strange, pale woman with straggly black hair and an enormous snake draped over her shoulders.

“Huh. Well, I wasn’t exactly expecting a warm reception, but I wasn’t expecting _this_ either,” Ashley comments.

“What happened to them?” I ask her, in total awe of the transformation I just witnesses.

“We must have somehow awakened their shadow forms,” she explains. “Get prepared for a fight.”


	42. Ignorance Is Your New Best Friend (September 23 Part 4)

<Gregg (Ashley's dad)>

On my way to the door, I briefly pass by Zoe, who has just ran from her room and looks unusually afraid and short of breath.

“Hmm, is something wrong?” I inquire of her.

She replies, “They’re at… it’s my… the door…” she quits talking to catch her breath. Although this string of words is incomprehensible, I believe I can deduce what she means by them.

“Yes, I heard the knock,” I tell her calmly. “How about you spend some time in Ashley’s room while I meet with the visitors?”

She gives me a brief nod, and then hastily makes her way to the room of my daughter. Without further ado, I go to the front door. Through the glass I can make out several figures standing on our porch. Opening the door reveals a crowd consisting of the following: Mr. Parker and Mrs. Parker, whom I am wholly unsurprised to see; Mr. _Harold_ Parker, the brother of Zoe’s father who also has a daughter about Ashley’s age; Mr. Stephenson who teaches Sunday school; and Mrs. White, who has no particular duty within the church but is a friend of their family.

“Good afternoon,” I tell them in greeting. “I see we have now adopted the tactics of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

“We don’t have time for your jokes,” Mr. Abram Parker greets harshly. “You know why we are here. Just let Zoe walk free, and we can get this over with quickly and quietly.”

“But this is not a jail that she has been sentenced to serve in, is it?” I respond. “And just as well, given that I lack any authority to execute or retract sentences.”

“You know what he means!” Mrs. Parker replies in an agitated manner. “We’re really not in the mood for this.”

“Well, as it just so happens, Zoe does not appear to be in the mood for exiting the premises either,” I counter. “And so, the power to end things quickly and quietly is in your hands alone…”

“How can we trust what you say?” Mr. Stephenson inquires. “Bring her up here with you. Let her tell us herself.”

“She does not seem to be in the mood for that, either,” I explain.

“Well, just go get her anyway!” Mrs. Parker demands. “She’s a child still. She doesn’t know what she wants.”

“I do believe that it is reasonable to assume that, by the age of fourteen years old, a child has the capabilities of having a clear idea of what they want when it comes to such important topics as where to live, as is enshrined into the legal code of most states in the United States of America…”

Mrs. White grabs a chunk of her platinum hair, as if she would like to rip it out. I’d say that this conversation is going quite well thus far.

* * *

<Ashley>

How curious… I was under the impression that we’d only be able to fight the shadow forms of Palace rulers. I suppose this further corroborates my theory that the palace we’re in now represents the cognitions of the church membership at large, and not just one person. It logically follows that we can theoretically meet the shadow forms of any given member of the church under the right circumstances.

And yet, not every person we meet here fits into this category. The other soldiers outside, including Cedric, Anja’s dad, and the version of Yonca that Zoe met, don’t seem to be shadows, but instead are cognitive reflections of a sort. If the owner of this palace is “members of the church at large,” that’s the only reason I can think of to explain why non-members would appear. Cedric’s appearance as a soldier on the “good” side must stem from him having membership in a different church that we’re friendly with or something. The only other explanation would be that this place serves as a palace for the entire town, which seems unlikely given that the church is the only part of it that looks distorted.

This makes me curious about something else; if the desires of these people aren’t being directly represented here, are their actions genuine? It seems to be so, judging by how these cognitive forms have revealed inner thoughts and feelings that you wouldn’t expect from a mere reflection. Given the palace’s depiction of a literal war to represent the real-world culture war, you would expect the non-members to be caricatures of themselves, along the lines of the villains in B-list Christian movies. However, from what I can tell they all act remarkably like their real-world counterparts. This is true of church members, too. They are not cartoonishly evil zealots in this world like I expected, but also reflect the general natures of their real-world counterparts. For example, Collin is technically a “palace ruler” under this theory but still seemed interested in trying to help us. Zoe’s parents’ actions depict them in a rather unflattering light, but they still had enough restraint to not try and attack Anja until she ran her own mouth and pissed them off. How could it be that a palace of distorted desires reflects all the same nuances and intricacies of the real world?

My best guess is that the palace also reflects a shared knowledge of everyone in the town. In a palace only owned by one person, I would expect that person’s distorted desires to paint everyone else as being one-dimensional (although to be fair, there were no other real-world people in Pavia’s palace, so I don’t have data to back this up yet. Moloch clearly doesn’t factor into this.) However, in a palace owned by a group, many different perspectives from each person are introduced into the mix. The confessions we received from Cedric and Yonca may very well be secrets that they have told to someone at the church, and so they are represented as a part of that person’s cognitive version.

Anyways, Zoe’s parents just transformed into strange monsters, so I’ll have to think about this more later.

The odd snake woman who was just Zoe’s mom gets the jump on us by showering our entire party with shards of ice. I’m forced to block them with my arms, and I can feel the biting cold even through my armor. Anja, however, doesn’t seem particularly bothered by them, and hits both foes with a blinding flash of light, which dazes them.

Zoe, who was previously skulking around in the back, runs and takes advantage of the distraction to hit both with a nuclear strike. Zoe’s dad is hit straight on, but Zoe’s mom was seemingly not affected by Anja’s move very much and is able to dodge. The pain of being turned against her own flesh and blood is visible on Zoe’s face.

Ted uses that spell that weakens an enemy’s attacks on Zoe’s mom, and then turns to me. “This 6 on 2 match could get confusing. I reckon we should split our group and isolate each opponent.”

“Not a bad idea,” I agree. “How about the two of us focus on Miss Slithers over there?”

He nods, and the two of us move in closer to Zoe’s mom.

In the interest of keeping the battle as short as possible, I unleash my angelic light attack on Zoe’s mom. I can tell by the furious hissing of the snake on her shoulder that it was effective.

“We got the winged one, then!” Nova affirms before making a huge lunge for Zoe’s dad and socking him with his hammer.

“Sounds like a plan,” I say. “Hey Cedric, how about you come help Ted and I?”

I turn towards him to find that Cedric got frozen in place by the initial assault. Actually, considering that he doesn’t have a Persona, I don’t think he’s going to be that useful to us at this point. Oh well, at least he got us inside.

“…Never mind, it’s just you and me then,” I say to Ted.

“Well, uh, it looks like you guys got everything under control!” Collin calls, shimmying along the wall towards the exit of the room. “I’m just gonna… peace out…”

Derrick confusedly looks back and forth between Zoe’s parents and us, and then wisely decides to follow his brother out the door.

Zoe’s mom isn’t taking my attack lying down. She begins clutching at the air in Ted’s direction, which causes him to tense up like he’s been paralyzed. After a second, his body relaxes, and a sort of ghostly vapor comes out of him that then flies into Zoe’s mom.

“What the hell did she just do to you?” I ask Ted.

“Drained my energy… but fear not, I have enough left for this!”

He jumps into the air and hits Zoe’s mom with one of his signature fire attacks. She seems particularly badly hurt by it. Between that and my preemptive strike, I’m willing to bet that she’s about to meet a quick end.

Before she can fully recover, I run up to her and strike her down with my sword. However, it was not enough to finish her off, and I hear her utter “ _Get her!”_ in a harsh whisper. The snake on her shoulder lunges for me, and it wraps around my body like an anaconda. Also, Zoe’s mom wasn’t wearing anything under the snake… Didn’t expect to see _this_ in a palace which is based on a church, but here we are.

“You… are unforgivable!” She hisses, her face contorted with fury. Her voice sounds strange now that she’s in her shadow form; the tones are distorted, like I’m listening to several voices at once. “You turned her against me!”

“Yep. Sure did. I did it right before I told her the Easter Bunny isn’t rea-” an extra-hard squeeze cuts me off mid-sentence as I gasp to catch my breath.

“So you admit to it! You turned her over to your sinful way of life, didn’t you?”

“Actually, she confessed to me first,” I retort. “Trust me, I care about her too much to drag her into a shitshow like this against her will.”

“Unbelievable! You must be lying!” she snarls. “ _Hurt her,_ ” she says in the hissing voice.

The snake’s mouth bites into the bare flesh on my hand. Very quickly, I feel its toxins enter my veins. It hurts like hell.

* * *

<Zoe>

Now that Dad has regained his bearings, he is proving to be quite a difficult opponent. His attacks are quite potent, and he seems to take little damage from direct hits with our weapons. I learned this after a blast from my shotgun barely seemed to leave a dent in his metallic body. Realizing this, we have begun to try and wear him down using magic attacks.

After Anja smacks him with a strong gust of wind, Dad knocks her back with a huge sword and then turns towards me.

“Zoe, stop this insanity and come home to us!” he pleads with me. “Your mother and I, we know what is best for you.”

“Why don’t you think about how she _feels_ for once?” Nova responds. “Are you really sure you’re doing the best thing?”

“Like you would know anything about parenting!” Dad growls back. “You and the foul-mouthed girl are interfering in private family affairs! You have no stake in this discussion!”

“Sure I do.” Anja cuts in. “Zoe is our friend. Unlike you, I care about what happens to her.”

Dad is infuriated by this remark. “You stupid child. How dare you level such accusations against me!”

Dad lifts his hand into the air, and three piercing beams of light envelop us. I surprisingly find that I’m not hurt by them, and neither is Anja. Nova, however, kicks the bucket right then and there, falling face first onto the floor.

“Anja, should we really be angering him further?” I ask, feeling very afraid.

“Sorry… couldn’t help myself,” Anja replies sheepishly. “Anyways, look alive!”

* * *

<Ashley>

As if being injected with venom that lights up my nerves wasn’t enough, Zoe’s mom unleashes a fire attack on me while I’m still being constricted. I thought Ted was supposed to be helping me. Where did that little fucker go?

“Zoe was always my good little girl,” Zoe’s mom rants. “She did everything she was told to do. She’d never do something like that! Not unless you turned her heart!“

“Your ‘good little girl’ is fourteen years old. You can’t have expected…” but I have to stop and desperately pant air into my lungs. I can’t take much more of this. I feel like I’m slipping away…

Thankfully, at long last I hear a spray of gunfire from beside me, and the snake that had been squeezing and biting me suddenly lets go.

I turn to see that Cedric has finally thawed out, and now has his gun turned towards Zoe’s mom. He pulls the trigger again… to find that he’s already used up his clip. Zoe’s mom kicks him into the back wall, where he crumbles to the floor and disintegrates.

I take this opportunity to jump to my feet and put the tip of my sword at Zoe’s mom’s neck. Checkmate.

“How dare you treat me this way!” she scolds me. “You ruined our family, do you hear me?”

“Right. Because you did _absolutely nothing_ to cause that,” I snark at her disdainfully. “Just give up already. You lost.”

“You will be punished, you hear me!” she rants continuously, rapidly losing her composure and breaking down. “You horrible, filthy girl! You and your arrogant parents will be nothing but fuel in the furnace! You’ll be thrown from the party and into the night!”

“Yeah, sure. Because God hates people who try and care for the oppressed and downtrodden,” I reply sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

She loses it completely at this point and starts crying on the floor like a child throwing a tantrum. Still, she is shrouded in light once again, and appears as her usual, blonde, thankfully clothed self.

Ted finally re-emerges, scuttling up on all fours and coming to a stop next to me. “It looks like the other half of the fight is still ongoing,” he observes. Indeed, Anja and Zoe are still wailing on Zoe’s dad with their respective magic attacks. Nova is lying face down on the floor, so he was probably knocked out a little while back.

“Where did you run off to, anyway?” I ask him.

“I was defrosting Cedric,” Ted explains. “I thought that he may be of use.”

“Well, he definitely was, so thank you,” I say. “Unfortunately, it seems as if he’s been done in now.”

“Alas, poor Cedric,” Ted laments.

I look back at Zoe’s mom, who is done crying and seems to have finally accepted defeat. I wonder… if Zoe’s mom is one of the owners of the palace, does defeating her shadow mean that I can talk some sense into her now?

“Are you here to rub it in my face more?” she asks me resentfully.

“As much joy as that would bring me, I’ll settle for a review of what we’ve learned from this experience,” I reply. “Unless you’re going to tell me that you still stand by what you did to her?”

She sighs very heavily, but seems mollified all the same. “We panicked, alright? Why, any parent in our position would’ve done the same thing.”

“Um, no. That’s ridiculous,” I rebuke. “ _My_ parents didn’t.”

“That’s because your parents are idealistic fools. Only a pair of idiots like that try to seriously make a living being _musicians_.”

Uh… what? “What the fuck does that have to do with anything?” I question, confused by this turn of rhetoric.

It’s her turn to roll her eyes this time. She takes a deep breath. “You must know how Zoe is by now. She’s so pure-hearted; she wants nothing in the world more than to help those who are in need. And she’s also so, so naïve. The cruel world we live in will eat her alive! Our powerful position in the town gives us many, many connections. We can help her find success in whatever it is she chooses to do. But if everyone believes that we’re promoting sin, that reputation we have will be sunk. How would _that_ be helping her?”

“And you decided that making her homeless would be an improvement?”

“No, you idiot girl!” she bites back, flaring up again. “You just got to lay down the law with children when it comes to nonsense like that. We knew that she was going to come back after she was done having a little pity party. Or rather, she _would’ve_ , if your mother hadn’t scooped her up from us!”

This strikes a nerve with me. “Okay, I get it now. You don’t give a fuck about how she feels. You just care that she’s not your perfect little trophy daughter anymore.”

“What I _care_ about is giving her a good life!” she insists, sounding almost pleading now. “You can’t get a good job as a homosexual! You’ll get the phone slammed on you all your life!”

“How much longer do you think it’s going to stay that way?” I question her. “The world’s changing, you know. By the time Zoe and I are adults, well-qualified and skilled people won’t be turned away based on such shallow factors anymore.”

She doesn’t say anything to that. She bites her lip in a strikingly Zoe-esque way. I turn back towards the other half of the fight, where Zoe’s dad is showering what appear to be blindingly bright comets upon Anja and Zoe. They’re starting to look worn down.

“Well, whatever. Can you get your husband to calm the fuck down?” I ask her. “It seems like we’re not really gonna get anything more out of bashing each other’s heads in.”

“Okay… perhaps that would be best,” she agrees.

* * *

<Zoe>

Ashley and Ted seem to have won their half of the battle, as they have come to join us along with Mom, who is no longer in her shadow form. Ashley looks miserable; it’s as if she could drop dead at any moment.

Dad looks down at Mom with confusion. “What is happening? Have you given up?” he asks.

Anja stops, and also turns towards the others. “Damn, Ashley,” she states simply. She performs some type of healing magic which affects the whole group, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I immediately feel its effects.

“Thank you, Anja,” Ashley says genuinely. Nova is now getting back to his feet, looking confused and disoriented.

“We’re not getting anywhere by fighting right now,” Zoe’s mom states sternly. “I’m afraid we may have somewhat of a misunderstanding on our hands.”

I frown at this. A misunderstanding? After everything that has happened?

“Very well then,” Dad agrees. He exits his shadow form as well.

“Uhh… what’s she talking about?” Nova questions.

Anja and I look at Ashley, who gives a slight shrug. So not even she knows?

“Zoe… honey…” Mom says, wearing a rare look of humility. “I’m sorry that all of this ever happened. You need to know that… you were always welcome to come back at any time. We’ll welcome you home with open arms.”

I blink, surprised. And then I feel something which I honestly don’t expect…

“No,” I say.

My parents freeze, looking slightly stunned.

I take a deep breath. “I lived my whole life for you. I followed all your rules. I worked as hard as I could push myself to. And for you to make me feel worthless after all of that…”

“Dear, we know now that we made a mistake,” Dad interjects. “But what we’re saying is…”

“It wasn’t a mistake!” I interrupt, feeling my frustration flare up. “You were going to send me to some hospital which could have… scarred me for life! You were torturing that man just for believing something different than us! You were going to torture one of my friends! How you acted, when I told you about Ashley and I, that was the real you. That’s how you truly feel about me. And…” I gasp, suddenly having an epiphany. “You’re only backing down now because… you’re afraid of the consequences. Just like I was…”

“Are you telling us that… you _don’t_ want to come home?” Dad asks, looking a little crestfallen.

“No she doesn’t want to come home!” Nova chimes in, seemingly unable to take it any longer. “Are you people stupid? What made you ever think that!”

My emotions become too overwhelming, and I find that I’m not able to speak anymore. My anger from earlier is mixing with grief and shame. I cover my face with my hands.

I feel a hand on my shoulder. “We’re proud of you, Zoe,” Anja’s voice tells me in a low voice. “Need a hug?”

“Okay,” I say. I accept her hug, but I don’t allow myself to start crying.

“That was unlike you, Zoe,” Ashley says, smiling at me from over Anja’s shoulder. “And I mean that in a good way.”

I nod. I suppose that was very unlike me. But I think I know what I have to do now.

I break the hug with Anja and say, “I don’t want to talk with them anymore. We need to finish this.”

“We do indeed,” Ashley agrees. She turns back towards my parents.

“We’re going to confront Palmer now and bring an end to this conflict,” she states. “Feel free to tell us where he is. If you don’t, we’ll find him anyway.”

“You can find him… on the bottom floor,” my mom says. She’s looking down at the floor and looks rather sad, which makes me feel guilty again. “You should… get down there quickly. He’s about to unleash our secret weapon.”

“Um, secret weapon?” Anja asks, looking fearful. “Why is this the first we’ve heard of it?”

“It’s an unstoppable weapon that can obliterate the hearts of the sinful,” my father explains further. “And once it has been activated, he will lead us into battle to…” he pauses, sighing.

“To do what?” Ashley questions.

“To take our country back,” my mom finishes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I leave behind this hurricane of fucking lies.


	43. The Eye Of The Storm (September 23 Part 5)

<Zoe>

After listening to this startling proclamation, the rest of us went straight to take the elevator to the bottom floor. In the real church, the elevator is the only way to get into the basement, and Ashley and I assumed that the “bottom floor” of the meta-church would be referring to there.

While on the elevator, I feel the anger I previously had towards my parents sapping away, and I find myself feeling guilty now about how I talked to them. That said, I also still feel that new feeling; that resolve within me to see this through to the end. The two feelings mix together and give me a sort of somber focus on the task at hand.

I have never been to the basement of the real church before, but I can safely guess that it does not look like this. It is a massive room, probably double the size of the school gym. It is also ominously empty, except for one thing in the center of the room; a massive tank, several times the size of a regular one, with triangular treads that shoot upwards at a 45-degree angle, a single protruding cannon on the right side, a distinct cockpit at the top similar to a science fiction spacecraft, and a raised ramp, with _Matthew 22:36-40_ engraved onto the bottom. The size of the weapon, as well as its strangely angled treads and exposed cannon, give it a distinctly threatening appearance. Just in front of the entry ramp stood Pastor Palmer, facing away from us with his hands behind his back, simply pondering the tank. His clothes are surprisingly casual compared to everyone else’s, consisting of a Sunday polo shirt and a pair of slacks, though he does have a heavy combat belt with various things I can’t quite make out from here. Finally, on the opposite side of the room is a massive ramp that leads to a set of closed metal doors; presumably how the weapon will reach the surface.

Ashley, Ted, Anja, Nova and I tentatively walk into the room. Nova’s eyes are darting around the room, seemingly trying to find any hidden threats, while the others remain focused on Palmer.

After a few steps, Palmer, without turning around or moving at all, says in a tired sounding voice, “Ah. Good afternoon to all of you.”

We sort of look at each other awkwardly and come to a stop.

“You seem like you were expecting us,” Ashley states simply.

“I know about everything that goes on here. It’s my curse…” Palmer replies.

Still no motion from him. Nova, looking tense and uncomfortable, says, “So. I’m gonna guess that’s your secret weapon or whatever.”

“Yes,” he states calmly. “Here it is, ready to mobilize… and yet, not a single member of this church has been able to pilot it.”

“Really?” Anja interjects. “You mean you don’t have a single military vet in the church who has experience with this stuff?”

“You miss the point,” Palmer replies. “The weapon is a quite special and temperamental one. It seems as if the door will only open for a select few. The clue is in the engraving.”

“Love the lord God with all your heart and all your strength and all your mind,” I recite automatically. “And love your neighbor as yourself. All the other laws are built upon these two,”

“Precisely. The two most basic commandments, and yet all of them fail to live up to them.”

“Wake up call, isn’t it?” Ashley snarks.

“Yes. As it turns out, I now believe that your father was right about the state of us. The congregation has grown too complacent. They no longer seek inspiration, but only my comfort. And thus they have failed to love their neighbors. Paradoxically, the invasion plan that gives them this comfort is now rendered impossible…”

“Well, uh, duh,” Nova comments. “You’re not exactly ‘loving your neighbor’ or whatever if you’re going out to kill them all.”

Palmer moves for the first time, ducking his head and sighing in a frustrated manner. “Your view of ‘love’ is far too narrow,” he preaches. “True love is not about being nice. It is about doing what is in your neighbor’s best interest, even if he is kicking and screaming all the while. As Johnathan Edwards wrote, we are but sinners in the hands of an angry God. In order to repent, the people must learn to fear. They must be taught of the punishment they will receive on the other side if they refuse to change their wicked ways.”

There is a pause. Nobody else speaks. Ashley turns her gaze to me, and we lock eyes. I remember what happened just now with my parents. His talk about fear is bringing back the sudden epiphany I had… I start forming a response in my head.

“It will not open even for me…” Palmer laments. “What clouds my heart, oh God? I pray that… I will see the sign and will realize my sin.”

Struck my inspiration, I say, “The scripture says to love God with all your heart and strength and mind; not fear.”

He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. They are the same.”

“Not exactly…” I reply. “When your actions are driven only by fear of consequences, you only do the bare minimum it takes to get by. You never really understand why you’re doing it, or what value it has. You’re just blindly following orders… and then you… have no ability to make your own decisions.”

“Exactly right,” Ashley interjects, looking pleased. “Which makes you an easy picking for false idols of the world. Something _you_ should think about.”

“What are you talking about, girl?” Palmer responds, agitated. “My vision is clear from false idols. My commitment is absolute.”

“Then the door to that tank should open for you, right?” Ashley retorts. “It’s not.”

“You have no place to judge me for such. You live a heretical lifestyle. And you come in here pushing the nonsense hippie doctrine of people like the Universalists, who are trying to destroy the faith from the inside. I will not stand for it! If you think I am ‘going too far’ in my pursuit of God, you will not pass through the narrow gate!”

It’s my turn to shake my head. It’s like he ignored everything I said earlier… “I don’t think that you’re going too far,” I say. “And I never said any of that stuff you said. Rather, I think that you’re not going far enough. After everything I’ve seen here, I now understand…”

“Not far enough?” he interrupts angrily, starting to lose his temper. “I am the pastor of this church. I have gone further along the path than anyone else in this community!”

“Nice one Zoe,” Anja comments. “That seems to have hit the right nerve. Maybe we can finally just fight already?”

“It will not be a fight, so much as…” Palmer suddenly stops mid-sentence and grabs a walkie-talkie that was in his belt. He holds it up to his ear, and after a few seconds, says, “Garrett, where have you been?” Another pause. “Yes, I am well aware of the intruders. Execute the tribunal plan.” He hangs up the walkie talkie.

“Uhh… the _tribunal_ plan?” Nova questions. “No dude, we’re just gonna have a fight. Come on, bring out your shadow form already.”

“My… shadow form?” Palmer asks. For the first time, he sounds afraid.

“Come on, what’s wrong with you?” Anja questions, rolling her eyes. “We’re done with the religious lecture portion. Boss fight time! Get it over with already!”

“I…” he starts breathing deeply and shaking. “What…?”

“Ashley, what’s wrong with him?” I question. “Why is he acting so much differently than my parents did?”

“Hard to say,” Ashley answers. “Perhaps a lack of introspection on his part?”

“A lack of… huh?” I respond stupidly, not sure what she means by this.

We don’t have any more time to discuss this, as Palmer screams “NO!” and then begins transforming before our eyes. The shadows that envelop him steadily grow in size, threatening to reveal something of similar size to the tank. It takes a while for him to emerge, and when he does, he is totally unrecognizable. He now looks like an enormous lion, except with massive reptilian wings and a tail with a stinger on it which resembles that of a scorpion.

As if a regular lion wouldn’t have been frightening enough… I begin to shake with fear and anticipation at the thought of fighting the creature, but the others seem rather unperturbed. A smirk on her face, Anja comments, “Well, this one is positively adorable compared to the last monster we fought.”

“Whoah, he turned into a manticore!” Nova says excitedly. “That’s pretty badass. Not gonna lie.”

The “manticore” that used to be Pastor Palmer seems disoriented. Instead of pouncing on us, he sort of shakes his head, and seems to be trying to gain his balance.

“Well, this seems like a good opportunity to get the first strike,” Ashley observes.

“Yes, but it would feel dishonorable,” Ted argues. “The man doesn’t even seem to know what’s happening yet.”

“I don’t give a _fuck_ about honor!” Anja shouts, bringing her Thompson to ready position. “Let’s get him already!”

“Alright then,” Ashley agrees, nodding curtly. And so, Ashley, Anja, Nova and Ted tear off towards the manticore. I hesitate because I can’t help but to find myself agreeing a bit with Ted; Palmer was not even acting as if he particularly wanted to fight us. But after a few seconds, I take a deep breath and follow them.

Anja arrives at the manticore first and wastes no time in firing on his flank. The manticore seems to notice this, and with shocking speed turns towards Anja and breathes fire towards her like a dragon would. Anja, however, nimbly jumps out of the way, tauntingly shouting “Ha! Not falling for that again!” Her jump goes far further and higher than it would in real life, so I suspect that she is using her wind powers to give herself a slight boost.

Ted arrives next, but instead of attacking him, he casts some spell on the manticore. It’s not clear to me what it did. Ashley, not being able to reach the head, goes for the legs with her sword; however, his skin is tough enough to where this has little effect. One of the paws bats her away, causing her to land several yards away; thankfully, she does not seem to be particularly hurt by this. Nova shoots a lightning bolt at him, which also seems to not do much; the manticore does not even seem to notice it.

“Damn, he’s tough,” Nova observes. “We just gotta try every type of attack we have. He has to be weak to _something_!”

He turns towards me as I arrive behind him. “Zoe! Try your nuclear thing against him!”

“Um, okay,” I agree. I aim a nuclear blast at his shoulder, which once again doesn’t even cause him to flinch.

“What are you children doing?” the manticore asks, sounding no more than mildly annoyed. “I have no time to play games with you. With my new power, I have a great duty to attend to…” And without a second glance towards us, he simply leaps across the room away from us.

“Uh… what the fuck?” Anja yells in frustration. “Where is he going?”

“I guess we’re not good enough for him,” Ashley comments, rejoining everyone else after getting to her feet.

The manticore runs to the metal doors and tears them open with his claws. He jumps through the resulting hole, and even from all the way over here we can hear the sound of enormous, flapping wings outside.

“GOD DAMN IT MAN!” Nova shouts, looking as though he’s about to tear his hair out. “WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO? THE BOSS JUST FREAKING RAN AWAY!”

“I guess we find out where he is going,” Ashley states calmly. “He’s gotta be up to something.”

“This is stupid!” Nova continues to complain, kicking the ground.

“Our attacks weren’t doing a lot to him anyway,” Ted comments. “We should take this time to form a clear strategy now that we know what to…”

Ted is interrupted by the sound of Palmer’s voice. It sounds magnified enough to where we can easily hear him even from the basement, but other than that his voice sounds remarkably calm and normal, lacking the distortions of my parents’ voices.

“Do not be alarmed, everyone. It is your pastor speaking. I have finally managed to awaken the secret weapon. This means that it is time to make our move. This is our mandate to start the invasion.”

“Man, they’d have to be dumbasses to fall for that shit,” Nova snarks. “Him turning into a fucking cat is _clearly_ not the secret weapon.”

“Well, those others _are_ pretty gullible,” Anja reasons. “Where do you guys think he went?”

“It sounded like he flew on top of the military base,” Ashley observes. “Makes sense given that he was trying to address a large number of people, and there are not exactly any other tall buildings in the area.”

“Alright. Let’s go up there and set his ass on fire,” Anja rallies. “You think that elevator will go all the way to the top?”

“Why wouldn’t it?” Ashley responds. “There’s no guarantee he won’t just fly away again, but we may as well try it.”

“Aight. Let’s go,” Nova agrees.

The others dash for the exit. I once again find myself hanging behind; leaving the supposed ultimate weapon just sitting there untouched during the final fight feels very unsatisfying. Still, nobody from the church was able to use it, so it’s not like any of us would be able to get it to open anyway.

I reach the elevator to find that Ashley was holding the door open for me. “You’ve had a lot on your mind, haven’t you?” she asks me as I walk in.

“Um, yes,” I say. “I’m sorry I’m being slow.”

“I can’t blame you for that,” Anja says in a comforting way. “You’ve been through a lot today. Well, not just today, but _especially_ today.”

“It’ll be over soon,” Ashley assures. “We just have to see this through to the end.”

“I know,” I acknowledge. “I’m committed to this. I’m ready.”

Ashley gives me a slight nod, and then presses the button that takes us to the top floor.

The elevator has no windows. There is nothing to do but stand in silence and feel the slight rumbling as we go up. Ashley, as always, looks quite calm and collected, not giving away anything with her expression. Nova seems antsy and frustrated, his hands wiggling randomly as if he were dying to do something with them. Anja has her eyes closed and she seems to be breathing deeply; I would’ve thought she’s praying if she was a more religious person. And closer to the floor, Ted is slowly rotating the cylinder of his revolver, checking to make sure it is fully loaded. I must admit that I have yet to really get used to the absurdity of working together with a talking armadillo.

“How do you feel about all of this, Mr. Ted?” I ask him. “You’re so quiet all of the time.”

“I’m feeling fine, lassie,” he replies gruffly. “Don’t you worry about me. I’m a man of duty. I don’t have patience for idle chat.”

“Yeah yeah, so you say,” Anja comments snarkily. “I think the idle chit-chat is what makes it fun.”

“I’m not _doing_ this for fun!” Ted growls.

I giggle slightly despite myself. Still, I can’t help but to wonder what his actual mission is… he says he was sent by an angel, but all he’s really done as far as I’ve seen is go along with whatever we’re doing. Was he asked to help us specifically?

I feel the elevator slow to a stop. My last moment of casual conversation is now over. I grip my shotgun tightly and prepare myself once again.


	44. Enemies Of God (September 23 Part 6)

<Ashley>

The elevator door opens, and the sight that immediately greets us is Palmer’s rear end, his scorpion tail twitching happily like a cat’s would. He is not currently doing anything other than sitting on the edge of the roof and looking down.

“Don’t you fucking dare fly away again!” Nova blurts out right off the bat. “We’re here to finish this.”

“Don’t fret, foulmouthed child,” Palmer replies. “I knew you would follow me up here. And I do plan on dealing with you promptly. I just had more important matters to attend to first.”

“Uh yeah, sure you did,” Anja says, leering at him. “Like telling everyone you awakened the secret weapon, when you totally just, _didn’t_?”

Palmer slowly gets to his feet and turns around to face us, his feline face showing a smug expression. “I have been granted the power I need to carry this out,” he contradicts. “It just came in a form I did not expect. At any rate, it is our time to teach the people how to fear again. There is no use in pushing your watered-down doctrine onto me now. My mind is set.”

“Oh, if you want to talk about _watered down_ , let’s talk about this,” I say, seeing an opportunity. “You know how the Bible portrays a view of the afterlife which is a little more nuanced than just ‘eternal happiness or eternal torture’ as the only two options, and it got dumbed down hundreds of years ago to attract more pagans to join the faith?”

“Did you ever even _read_ the Bible?” Palmer replies disdainfully. “It’s very clear on the subject.”

“Yeah, it is,” I respond. “The servant who doesn’t know their master’s will and does not prepare will receive a light beating; the servant who does know their master’s will and does not prepare will receive a severe beating, and- _you_ should pay attention this one- the servant who was made master of the house and used their power to beat their underlings will be _cut to pieces_.” (1)

“What’s your point?” he asks.

“My point is, right there are three different punishments that can happen to people. And considering that a pastor who abuses children will be punished worse than the average non-believer, do the ends truly justify the means?”

“Quit acting like you know more about the Bible than me,” Palmer orders bluntly. “I’ve studied theology at a university level, and you’re a high schooler going through a rebellious phase.”

“All I’m saying is that you’re not as much of a Biblical originalist as you claim to be,” I continue. “But I know how it is with your type. The road to hell is paved with…”

While I’m saying the word “with,” several things happen at once.

Ted screams “GET DOWN!” and I hear Zoe yelp. Palmer suddenly springs forward, the side of one of his front legs knocking into my torso and knocking the breath out of me just as the word “good” was forming on my lips. And finally, I go flying backwards off the building, plummeting to the parking lot below.

Before I have time to take this in, something grabs my wrist and I slow to a stop in midair. I look up to see that Nova got me, using that spinning hammer trick.

“We gotta stop- huff- falling for shit like that!” Nova asserts, winded by the hit. “In hindsight, that was a pretty obvious trap!”

He slowly lowers me to the ground, and I have to admit he has a point. It was quite ingenious, honestly; lure us all to the roof, provoke either Zoe or I into a religious diatribe, and then pounce when we aren’t expecting it. I feel immensely stupid that I didn’t see that coming.

Palmer flies straight over our heads as we fall, and he lands a short distance away. Anja lands below us on her feet unharmed, making good use of her wind powers. I look all around the ground and don’t see Zoe or Ted. I look back to the top of the building to see Zoe’s head poking over the side of the roof. Ted must’ve also managed to avoid being blown off.

Nova and I land on the ground next and sort of collapse to the pavement, still shaken by the initial blow.

* * *

<Zoe>

“All I’m saying is that you’re not as much of a Biblical originalist as you claim to be,” Ashley continues. “But I know how it is with your type. The road to hell is paved with…”

Suddenly, I hear Ted shout “GET DOWN!” and he grabs my hand and yanks me to the floor with surprising strength. I fall face first onto the floor, but I can feel something very large quickly move over me and the sounds of the others grunting, as well as a distinct metallic _thud_. Finally, a huge gust of wind travelling the other direction blows over me, shaking the building underneath me slightly.

I roll over onto my front to see the manticore flying away from the building. Panicked, I quickly crawl over to the side of the building to see what happened to my friends. Thankfully, it looks like they all somehow landed safely. However, the manticore is landing close to them, and a small contingent of soldiers are surrounding them…

“Up and at ‘em!” Ted barks at me. “Let’s get down there and rejoin the group!”

“Yes!” I agree, nodding. I jump to my feet and turn towards the elevator we stepped out of, only to find that it got smashed by Palmer’s jump forward.

“That looks like it’s too dangerous to try using now,” I say to Ted. “Let’s head down using the stairs.”

“Aye,” Ted agrees.

* * *

<Ashley>

_Come on. Get up. Get up…_ My body resists my demands. I feel like I’m stuck laying on the floor. I can sense that we are being surrounded, and I feel a sense of hostility…

“You okay, Ashley?” I hear Anja’s voice say. “C’mon. Get up.”

I finally push myself up to my knees. I take Anja’s outstretched hand and get to my feet.

“I’m fine, thanks,” I say. “You’re a good friend.”

“Um… thanks. You too?” Anja replies, confused.

Finally having snapped out of whatever funk I was in, I survey our surroundings. As I suspected, a small circle of soldiers are around us, rifles up and pointed at me. There’s something surreal about how I recognize every one of them; after all, they’re the mothers, fathers, aunts, and uncles of the people I knew growing up. Palmer is nimbly walking up to us from the distance, the smirk from earlier gone; it’s been replaced by a serious expression. That said, the vast majority of the army is being directed elsewhere, moving out to the different parts of town in small groups.

“Bet you regret stabbing me now,” Garrett says, forming part of the circle in front me. Unlike Palmer he looks pretty pleased with the current events.

“Not at all,” I respond. “I’ll fucking do it again.”

“Do you remember what I told you? Years ago?” he replies. “Well, looks like I’ve been vindicated, hmm? I was exactly right about you…”

“Uh… what’s he talking about?” Nova asks from behind me. “What’s this guy’s beef with you?”

“It’s not important,” I dismiss. “Let’s just get rid of this posse and get Palmer already.”

“That’s big talk. You think you three can take on all of us? Two of you don’t even have guns!” Garrett taunts.

“They _can_ take you on,” Palmer contradicts, having just reached the front of the lot. “And they will win. Like me, these three have awakened a great power within them. Take your squad to go do your assigned job, and I will handle them.”

“But we can’t just abandon you, sir!” Garrett protests. “It’ll be three against one!”

“Don’t worry. _My_ power far exceeds theirs,” Palmer assures him. “For my power was awakened by the good spirit inside me, while theirs are born from their selfish and wicked thoughts.”

“It’s kind of the reverse, actually,” Anja contradicts. “See, I got my powers when I was…”

“Shut up! I’m tired of your contradictions!” Palmer hisses. “Garrett. Lead your squadron now!”

“Roger that, sir!” he complies, saluting. The other soldiers quickly disperse along with him.

Without saying another word, Palmer’s eyes begin glowing, and the three of us are engulfed by blindingly bright beams of light. It doesn’t do much to me except make me wince at the brightness, but the other two get blown backwards with surprised grunts.

“Pastor Palmer, you’ve got something in your eye,” I taunt. “It looks like a log… or a plank, or something.”

“I am not amused, Ashley,” Palmer growls. He makes to smack me with his paw, but something odd happens; for the briefest of moments, time seems to move in slow motion, and I angle my sword just right to where it catches the center of his paw, causing him to quickly retract it and stumble backwards.

“Damn, you can do that now too?” Nova questions from somewhere behind me. Out of the corner of my eye I see Anja leap forward and blast Palmer with a huge gust of wind, sending him tumbling back further.

“Ha! That finally worked against something!” Anja celebrates.

“I hope Zoe and Ted get down here soon,” Nova comments, stepping up to the other side of me. “In all the chaos I didn’t think to fly back up there and get them.”

“We’ll have to get it started without them,” I state. “Focus on the battle.”

“Yes, I’m pumped now!” Anja shouts excitedly. “The real battle has finally begun!”

* * *

<Zoe>

The base is now ominously empty. It seems like everyone has already left. Ted and I are back on the ground floor, and there is not another soul in sight. We sprint for the exit. I find that my determination has given me seemingly endless energy. Even after running down the many stairs, I do not feel even a little bit fatigued.

I lead Ted down a shortcut through the kitchen, and that’s when we run into the first other person since the confrontation on the roof. Diana, of all people, is in there, halfway through shoving a slice of cake into her face. For some weird reason, she’s not wearing a military outfit like everyone else, and is instead dressed in church clothing.

“Stand aside, lass!” Ted growls at her.

It’s tough to say whether she is more shocked about seeing me, or Ted. Either way, her eyes quickly dart between the two of us, and she hastily swallows the bit of cake she had been chewing on and puts the rest down.

“Zoe?” she asks, seemingly not minding Ted’s order. She smiles widely. “You came back!”

“Um… what?” I ask, not expecting this reaction.

Diana quickly darts across the room and gives me a huge hug. “Zoe! I missed you so much! I-“

I push her off me. “Diana, I don’t have time for this. I have something I need to do.”

“What do you mean, Zoe?” she asks, still irrationally cheery. “Now that you’ve come back, we can finally be friends again!”

“No we can’t, Diana,” I tell her plainly, wiping the grin from her face. “I came back to snap you all out of this… crazy warlike mindset!”

“You mean… you’re not staying?” Diana asks, now looking gloomy.

“You’re being just like my parents,” I chide her, annoyed. “How can you ever expect things to go back to the way they were after everything you did to me?”

“Everything… I did?” she asks blankly.

“You’re the one who took the video of me with Ashley, which showed everyone we were together!” I rant at her. “You can’t be my friend again after that, Diana. And you clearly never were to begin with anyway.”

Diana looks at the floor, distraught. For a moment, I wonder if she’s about to awaken her own shadow form. However, this time turns out differently as she begins crying.

This goes on for a while, and Diana doesn’t seem to even be able to come up with any excuses for herself. She just stands there and cries.

“Let’s leave her and get along,” Ted tells me. “The others are out there fighting already."

“I know… I just want to have a quick word,” I tell him. “Diana, look. I know that was really harsh. I’ve been through so much today that I never dreamed of before. You have to know that…”

I am interrupted, however, a fourth person enters the room; Terra, wearing her soldier’s uniform like everyone else, with a handgun in the holster on her belt. The rest of my sentence stops in my throat, and for a few seconds there is only awkward silence, as Diana, Terra and I glance back and forth between each other.

Terra gives me a steely gaze. “Well. Fancy meeting you all here,” she says in a casual tone of voice.

“Fancy nothing,” Ted snarls at her. “We have no more time to waste. Move aside!”

Terra smiles slyly and draws her handgun, pointing it straight at me. “No. I’m not going to.”

“I’m not afraid of you anymore, Terra,” I tell her sternly. From the corner of my eye, I see Ted draw his own gun, ready to retaliate if Terra attacks. “I am much more powerful than before. Even a gun will not stop me now. Move out of our way.”

“Wait! No!” Diana screams, hysterically running between us. “Please don’t fight! We were all friends once, remember?”

Diana turns towards Terra and asks, “Terra… sniff… what are you doing here? I thought you were with the battalion?”

“I thought _you_ were.” Terra says accusingly. “What’s your excuse?”

Ted scoffs at the continued impediment. While a very large part of me wants to see this confrontation through, Ted is right; Ashley and the others need us.

I turn to leave the kitchen at last, but Diana grabs my hand and tugs on my arm. “No, Zoe! Please don’t leave!” she pleads. “I’m sorry, okay? I never should have done any of that! Let’s just talk about this!”

“Quit trying to appease her, you worm,” Terra tells her harshly, the venom in her voice back again. “I can’t believe you’d touch its hands.”

_Its hands_ , she said. Being referred to in this way causes something within me to snap… I am overwhelmed by a blind rage which goes beyond anything I’ve felt before. I raise my shotgun up and aim it at her. “Shut your god damn mouth, Terra.”

Diana clasps her hands over her mouth in shock that I just said a swear word. Terra, however, does not look afraid in the slightest; in fact, she laughs at me.

“You can’t touch me, you little freak,” Terra gloats. “To answer your question from earlier, Diana; I have a special mission to do.”

“Huh? From who?” Diana questions, puzzled. “Palmer?”

“No, not from him,” Terra continues, smirking at the barrel of my shotgun. “I’m going to go to the basement and pilot the ultimate weapon. I’m no fool; I know that Palmer failed to get into it and chose to take a shortcut instead.”

“If he couldn’t get in, you don’t even have a chance,” I scold her. “You’re an awful, hateful person, Terra!”

“We’re supposed to hate what is evil, freak,” Terra counters me.

“Please! Stop this, both of you!” Diana shouts hysterically, jumping between us. “We don’t have to fight! Just give it up, both of you!”

“This isn’t a conflict we’re just going to be able to hug and walk away from,” Terra tells her. “It’s a clash of ideology. You’ve got to pick a side.”

“No… you’re both my friends!” she agonizes, tears streaming down her face. This gives me an idea…

“And Yonca is your friend too, right?” I ask Diana.

“Yes! Of course!” she pleads. “All three of you are!”

“I saw Yonca earlier today,” I explain. “And she was running at me with knives and wearing terrorist clothes. The people of this church view _her_ as the enemy.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense!” Diana says, shaking her head.

“Of course she’s an enemy,” Terra responds. “She believes a false doctrine. That makes her an enemy of God. So she’s an enemy of ours too.”

“That’s not how that works,” I contradict her. “It’s not our job to judge.”

“Which is lucky for you, freak,” Terra comments dryly. “I’d smite a disgusting creature like you where you stand.”

Diana winces slightly at this. But she seems to be figuring something out internally…

“But Terra… don’t you think she’s right?” Diana questions tentatively. “Yonca being a different faith doesn’t make her our _enemy_. It’s just something we… disagree on,” she reasons.

“Alright. So you’ve made your choice then,” Terra states. “Well, I see no reason for you to stick around here, then. Whenever you wind up after this, I’m sure you’ll find your way back to where you’re actually supposed to be…” And then without a single warning or change of expression, she brings her gun up and shoots Diana straight through the head.

I quickly raise my own shotgun and fire on her in retaliation, but it’s too late; Terra is being engulfed in shadows, and the bullets just get absorbed into the smoke. Diana’s face shows intense anguish and hurt for a few seconds before she collapses and fades away like Garrett did.

In this middle of her transformation, Terra tells in a now scary and distorted voice, “And now… I have something special for you!” The shadows engulf her entirely, and then she emerges transformed; she now has a large pair of batlike wings, a horned devilish tail, a pure white leotard in place of her military uniform, and, most unnervingly, a wicked, maniacal smile.

* * *

<BBD>

  1. This is an abbreviation of Luke 12:44-48.




	45. The Armor Of God (September 23 Part 7)

<Nova>

Dipshit ain’t getting away from us this time. Anja’s wind attack blew him to the back of the parking lot, close to where some houses are.

So, what we know so far: Cat Palmer is resilient to most attacks and we have yet to really figure out a weakness. He didn’t seem all that hurt by my lightning, but I’m also not really interested in going for his feet. Hey, in the last boss I got up on his back and that seemed to help a lot. I’ll try that.

I do the helicopter thing with my hammer, and I try to get onto the back, but then I get beaten back by one of his paws. His reflexes are too good for me to get up there from the front, I guess. Maybe if I get behind him?

Anyways, I got knocked back to the ground just as Ashley and Anja run up to meet Kitty Priest, and he spins around quickly and wallops all three of us with that scorpion tail. I’m expecting it to sting, but it actually barely hurts me. Anja manages to duck under it, but Ashley gets hit dead on. It clearly affects her a lot more, as she winces and hunches over from the pain. So like how Ashley didn’t get hurt by that eye attack, but in reverse this time.

Anja hits back with another gust of wind. This time, he gets thrown into some trees in between the lot and a house, and the trees get knocked over and crash into the backyard. I don’t know if this is intentional, but moving the fight to the houses will help us because we’ll have more cover and a high ground to attack him from.

Suddenly, I feel a sort of powerful, macho feeling; must be the adrenaline kicking in. While he’s still disoriented from Anja’s attack, I run and get behind one of the trees that didn’t get knocked over. Then, when he tries to start another attack against Ashley and Anja, I use the spinny hammer trick again; only this time, I use it to just barrel straight into his flank. The impact stings me a bit too, but man, it was worth it. I plop to the ground and watch as the force of my collision sends him tumbling into some more trees, but he still doesn’t really seem that hurt by it, since he gets right back up afterwards.

Still, my attack couldn’t stop him from swatting Anja halfway across the parking lot with one of his paws. Anja recovers quickly and retaliates with more wind, which sends him all the way into the house. His back legs get stuck through the walls, giving Ashley an opening to run up and smack him right across the face with her sword. As a nice cherry on top, I propel into him with my hammer spinny again, which knocks him free from the wall but also sends him sliding across into the next yard.

“I can’t help but to admire your valiant effort,” Cat Palmer admits as he gets back on his feet. Despite the beating he took, he still has that same calm, focused tone of voice. “You have found strength through unity; a quality my church has long missed. How did you do it?” He looks directly at Ashley, as if the question was mostly for her.

“We have common goals and beliefs, so we help each other,” Ashley states simply. “It’s not complicated.”

“Ah, I see. So it was a natural alliance,” the kitty muses. “And yet you are also so different in many ways.”

Anja jumps over the smashed trees and joins the rest of us in the yard. “Well, you gotta have some diversity or things will get too boring,” she tells Mr. Whiskers. “Anyways, we’ve already flapped our jaws enough already, haven’t we?”

“Perhaps we have,” Palmer says (I ran out of cat nicknames.) He moves very quickly up into the air, and I instinctively dive through the hole he left in the wall to dodge whatever attack he’s about to do. And that was a pretty good idea, as a second later I hear the sound of huge wings flapping and see Ashley fly backwards and out of sight. I hear more wind sounds and trees getting knocked over, so I’m guessing he and Anja are having a Wind Duel now.

I look at the ceiling of the house for a spot to easily break through and get a good vantage point. I’m in a cluttered living room area now, but I see a hallway in front of me that would take me closer to the action. I run down the hall and propel myself through the ceiling right in front of what looks like a master bedroom.

On the roof, I catch Ashley swiping at Palmer’s legs, creating a perfect distraction for me to smack him with another hammer propeller assault. Unfortunately, he’s cognizant enough to nail Ashley with his scorpion stinger as he’s going down, sending her flying straight through the wall of the house. The sting combined with the impact of colliding with the wall must have hurt a lot.

* * *

<Zoe>

Immediately after Terra emerges from the shadow cocoon, Ted sends her flying backwards into a metal cabinet with one of his fire attacks. Terra jumps out, relatively unperturbed, and pelts him with an ice attack. Ted winces and grunts in a pained way as the attack sends him sliding backwards into a wall.

I take a deep breath, and then hit her square in the chest with a shotgun blast. This knocks her down to the floor and leaves her stunned, so I follow up with a nuclear strike. After this initial assault, Terra is no longer grinning and now looks furious.

She dives forward and takes me by surprise, grabbing me by my heels and then using her wings to propel herself into the air, leaving me awkwardly hanging over her shoulder and disoriented. She then spins around and tosses me out the door to the kitchen, causing me to slam into the wall in the hallway. I fall to the floor on my side with a _thud_. The impact certainly hurt, but I am able to bear it. After all, I’ve been through much worse in the Metaverse so far.

I push myself up to a sitting position to see Terra staring at me from the kitchen, ominously framed by the doorway and smirking again. But then, I hear a loud _bang_ and Terra shrieks in pain as her wings twitch a bit; Ted must have fired on her from where he is in the kitchen. Terra steps out of the kitchen and towards me, glaring at me evilly.

“What a curious pair of opponents I have,” she muses. “A horrifying, disgusting freak of nature… and a talking armadillo.”

I feel my pulse rise once again… however, then I heard Ted’s voice call, “ _She’s trying to distract you. Ignore her!”_ I close my eyes and take a deep breath, returning to my previous pensive focus.

I spring to my feet and reach out with my hand, intending to put her to sleep with the spell I used on Moloch. However, Terra sees it coming and ducks out the way. She retaliates with a punch to the side of my head and a knee right into my groin, causing me to stumble backwards a few steps.

“Hehe, _that_ was cathartic,” Terra comments unnecessarily.

I raise my shotgun again, and this time I hit her several times in quick succession, leaving her momentarily stunned. I take this time to run back into the kitchen and look for Ted; it’s strange that he hasn’t followed us out yet.

It turns out, this was because Terra’s ice attack on Ted caused him to get frozen to the wall, still able to operate his gun but not much else. I tear off the ice covering him and help him get free.

Ted and I walk back out to confront Terra, weapons raised. She is just now standing up straight again and is breathing very heavily. We clearly were able to get the upper hand on her and wear her down quickly.

“Give it up, Terra,” I tell her. “It’s obvious by now that you’re not going to beat us.”

“And then what?” she asks me. “You’ll convert me?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I rebuke her. “Why can you not go thirty seconds without making some sick comment?”

“You think that _I’m_ sick?” Terra replies spitefully. “Why can’t we talk about the organized network of people, preying on children and mentally ill people? The internet makes it easier than ever for predators to find their victims and infect them… and you’re playing right into their hands!”

“You don’t know me at all, do you?” I ask. “We were friends for years, and yet you somehow know absolutely nothing about me…”

“I thought I did,” she said. “You never seemed like someone who’d be radicalized. Such a pity, Zoe…”

However, she seems to admit defeat all the same, and exits her shadow form. I sigh with relief and put my gun back at my side.

“You never answered my question, Zoe,” Terra states after returning to her regular clothing and wingless form. “What is your goal here?”

“We’re here to make Palmer change his heart,” I explain. “He has the power to smooth over this whole situation, if we can just get him to stop being so stubborn.”

Terra chuckles darkly. “You’re not gonna be able to get through to him. No way.”

“We have to try,” I insist.

“No, you don’t get it Zoe. Did you _see_ the monstrous form that he took? There’s no way to stop him. He’s given in to his selfish desires and is too far gone.”

“If we defeat him, we can talk him out of it!” I urge her.

“No. He is too powerful. The only thing that can stop him now is the direct hand of God Himself. That’s why _I_ wanted to activate that secret weapon. But now, you’ve ruined any chance of that happening…”

“Wait, you were going to _stop_ him?” I ask, confused. “I thought you’d be on his side!”

“I was totally on his side until he transformed into that monster!” Terra says disdainfully. “But whatever. Have it your way. Go deal with him yourself, freak.”

And without further ado, Terra takes her gun and shoots herself in the head with it, disappearing into shadows to reappear who-knows-where.

* * *

<Anja>

Ouch, that last hit on Ashley looked like it fucking hurt! I dash away from the fight and into the house to go find her. I find her in a bedroom, having just crashed through _two layers_ of walls and right into a large, wooden dresser which is now in splinters. She does not look good; her armor has a few dents in it, and she’s wincing and holding her stomach like she’s about to violently throw up.

“Oh jeez! Here, I can help!” I offer. However, just as I’m crouching to heal her, I hear a loud sizzling sound come from every direction around me… I sprawl onto my back to see that the house has caught fire… oh no oh shit, what do I do?

“Eeeek!” I scream without thinking. “Fire! I gotta put it out! I’ll use my wind!”

“No, don’t!” Ashley orders in a croaky voice. “You’ll only make it stronger. Palmer must have used his fire breath on the end of the house, we need to get out now…”

But it’s already too late. The fire has set the doorway and the bed by the window ablaze, leaving us with nowhere to run. I can’t do anything but sit there and cry out of total panic.

But then, I hear a _crash_ and see a bunch of rubble fall down from the roof right in the center of the room, leaving a hole. Nova hops down through it, uttering a “Yeowch!” as his robes catch on fire. He grabs me around the waist and just straight up chucks me up through the hole he made. I scream more as I fly, and then land on the shillings of the roof with a _thud_.

I feel two sets of feet land beside me right afterwards, followed by Nova’s voice saying, “C’mon Anja, let’s go let’s go let’s go!” Ashley follows him up with, “The house will collapse soon. We need to jump to relative safety.” I feel someone yank me to my feet by my armpits (it must be Ashley based on the height difference between us) and then push me forward. Without thinking twice (or even really once,) I make a mad dash across the roof and off the other side, too disoriented to land on my feet and instead faceplanting onto the ground. Two subsequent thuds tell me that Ashley and Nova made it.

“That fucking bastard!” Nova shouts bitterly from above me, having landed on his feet. “When are Zoe and Ted gonna get here??? We’ve been fighting like hell and we’ve barely made a dent so far!”

With some protesting from my battered limbs, I push myself up and use a group healing spell. Nova looks like he’s managing okay, but Ashley is still on the ground coughing heavily, now covered in soot in addition to her previous injuries.

“Thanks for that,” Ashley says. She pushes herself up too, but nearly stumbles over and Nova has to grab her shoulder to keep her steady.

“Damn, Ashley,” I tell her. “You can do this all day, huh?”

No reaction from Ashley for that, predictably. Nova, getting the reference, chuckles a bit, but then the smile is wiped off his face by something he sees over my shoulder. I whirl around to see one of the squads of soldiers from the church pointing guns at us. Oh fuck!

“You are ordered to stand down,” a middle-aged lady in the front of the squad says.

Ashley rolls her eyes, does a dramatic hair flip, and then charges straight into them without any further warning. She uses the superior bulk granted by having a Persona to charge through their oncoming fire and slice through the soldiers one by one, turning them to shadowy smoke. I think that I should help her out, but she’s moving so quickly through the squad that I’m worried about hitting her. The other soldiers seem to have similar concerns, leaving to a confusing mess of some of them shooting and others running away. It kinda reminds me of that one scene from V for Vendetta near the end. And like that scene, Ashley somehow emerges victorious, albeit breathing very heavily and with a crazy look in her eyes. There are several new welts in her armor from the bullets that managed to hit her. I _would_ tell her off for putting herself into that much danger when she was already weakened, but honestly right now I mainly just feel afraid of her.

And then Palmer re-emerges, pouncing towards Ashley from the other side of the burning house. With one simple flick, he knocks Ashley away before she has a chance to react to what is happening. Ashley flies straight forward and into a tree, which breaks in half and falls backwards. Ashley falls to the ground headfirst and appears totally unconscious at last.

“No! Ashley!” I cry out, making to run over for her. Nova, however, grabs me around the waist to stop me.

“Anja… he doesn’t see us yet,” he whispers in my ear. “Let’s take cover and use this to our advantage…”

While it goes against my immediate instinct to go help her, I think he’s right. We might be able to sneak around the buildings and go collect her.

Palmer miraculously didn’t seem to hear my earlier shout over the sounds of the tree breaking, so we both back away slowly and hide behind the next house. I personally don’t get too close to the wall because I’m worried he’s just going to set this one on fire too.

“She has fought well,” I hear Palmer say. It’s not clear at first if he’s talking to himself, or if another platoon showed up. “I can respect that fighting spirit, even if she is on the wrong side of this issue. Take her back to the base and put her in a secure location.”

“Roger that, sir,” a man’s deep voice says, confirming that he’s not talking to himself. “Is this area clear? It seems that the unclean residents here fled already.”

“Don’t worry, they will not get far,” Palmer replies. “We are sweeping every inch of this town as we speak. And anyway, two of Ashley’s friends may still be skulking around here somewhere. I will find them myself.”

“I don’t get this, why hasn’t she evaporated yet?” A young woman’s voice asks. “All the other civilians we dealt with simply faded into air a while after being shot.”

“The powers she awakened give her special rules, it seems,” Palmer explains. “However, rest assured she is unconscious for now. Be on your guard, as her friends may try to take her body and resuscitate her.”

“Well, that’s an idea,” Nova mutters. “We just wait for that squad to pass by, and then…”

His plan is interrupted by the sound of crunching grass that is waaay too close to us. Nova grabs my arm and pulls us into a nearby patio to hide from him.

“Fuck! He’s so catlike I couldn’t hear him approaching!” Nova whispers tersely as we crouch behind the sitting table.

“What do we do, Nova?” I whisper back. “Now it’s just the two of us against one very large beast…”

“Let me think about this… I’ll come up with a plan,” Nova whispers back, though his face shows as much anxiety as I feel. He closes his eyes really tightly, seemingly trying to think of something desperately. In the meantime, we have nothing to do but stay cramped up in our hiding place and hope we aren’t spotted.

* * *

<Zoe>

Ted and I dash out the front doors of the church, ready to join the others in the fight. I scan the surrounding area, and quickly find the area of the fight, indicated clearly by the several demolished trees and a house that’s been burned to the ground. We quickly start dashing in that direction…

…But then, I see more clearly what’s actually happening. I see Ashley’s limp body being carried away by a group of soldiers, with Anja and Nova nowhere to be seen. I see Palmer hastily walking around the area and looking around. Could he be looking for them?

I slow to a stop, my heart falling in my chest as I realize what’s happening.

“ _What_?” Ted asks sharply. “It looks as though they’ve already given up!”

“Yeah… it does,” I reply glumly. “The mission failed. We need to get out of here before…”

“Nonsense!” Ted growls at me harshly. “We can rejoin with the two who remain and win!”

“But look at Palmer!” I point out. “They’ve been fighting him this whole time, and he barely looks hurt! And we know that at least Ashley is already down!”

Ted doesn’t say anything to that. He just says heavily and shakes his head.

Depressed and defeated, I start thinking about how to get everyone out safely. I’ll have to intercept the soldiers carrying Ashley, but I still have no idea where Anja and Nova are hiding.

How could this happen to us? It seems that Palmer was just too strong for us. We couldn’t defeat him after all… it’s just like what Terra said…

_“No, you don’t get it Zoe. Did you see the monstrous form that he took? There’s no way to stop him. He’s given in to his selfish desires and is too far gone.”_

That’s what she said, and she ended up being right. But hold on… there was something she said after that…

_“No. He is too powerful. The only thing that can stop him now is the direct hand of God Himself. That’s why_ I _wanted to activate that secret weapon. But now, you’ve ruined any chance of that happening…”_

Suddenly, the strangest of ideas overtakes me.

“Ted… wait. I, uh…” I trail off.

“What’s on your mind?” he asks me.

“I… don’t expect this to work,” I disclaim, “But… we don’t have any other ideas, so maybe there’s one thing we could try.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Remember that weapon that Palmer wanted to use? None of us tried to get it to open. It could be that it’d work for one of us… but no. There’s no way that’d work.”

With a pang, I realize that if a trained pastor couldn’t meet the requirements to get it to open, there’s no way any of us could. Ashley can be too violent sometimes, Anja and Nova aren’t Christians, Ted seems to have personal baggage that he won’t share, and I… I’m just pretty useless for the most part.

“Hmm. It is curious that nobody could use it in the palace that they themselves created,” Ted observes. “It’s almost as if they know deep in their hearts that something is off about all of this…”

He looks around quickly. “Where did those doors he tore open lead to?”

“The backside of the church, I think,” I tell him. “But…”

Without waiting for me to finish, he runs around the perimeter of the church behind me.

“Wait, Ted!” I call after him. “I don’t think… that idea was probably too stupid…”

He ignores me and is soon out of sight. Disgruntled, I follow him around the church and to what would be a second, smaller parking in the real world. In this world, the metal doors are here instead, showing that this is where Palmer escaped from earlier. I carefully step over the bottom into the hole that Palmer left earlier, and back into the room.

I jog down the ramp to find Ted standing at the foot of the weapon. Obviously, the door is still shut tight.

“Okay, Ted. It’s clearly still not opening,” I tell him. “It was just a distraction this whole time. Let’s go get the others and escape.”

“Why, it was never going to be me who opened it,” he asserts. “Come closer, Zoe.”

“Oh come on, _me?_ ” I question, getting a bit hysterical. “This whole hostile and hateful environment… I was a part of it for so, so long. Maybe I never fully believed in it, but I didn’t speak out against it, and that is bad enough.”

“I ain’t seeing anything about ‘perfect’ on that inscription,” Ted counters. “Only one man was ever perfect.”

I sigh. I’m really afraid of stepping in front of it; not that it’ll open, but that it won’t, confirming what I know to be true about myself. No matter whose side you’re on, you can clearly see me and see someone totally unworthy.

Still, Ted is steadfast, and is not budging from the spot he’s in. I suppose if nothing else, I will need to walk over there to pick him up.

I shut my eyes and walk over to him, trying to focus on just getting him and leaving as quickly as possible. I heard a strange creaking sound, which I ignore…

Then, right beside me I hear a large _Crash_. My eyes instinctively pop open… so see that the door to the weapon has fallen down.


	46. Cast The First Stone (September 23 Part 8)

<Zoe>

For a moment, I’m simply dumbfounded, not comprehending what just happened. And then, I feel a wave of excitement and hope wash over me. Now’s our chance- we can bring a quick end to this!

I quickly run up the ramp and into the tank. I hear the sound of smaller footsteps on metal that tells me that Ted is following me.

Despite its size, the tank was clearly not designed to be piloted by a large team; the staircase inside leads directly up to the cockpit. There’s nothing I can identify as a control panel or anything; it’s just an empty room with a window showing the outside.

“Um… Ted,” I ask, realizing something. “I don’t know how to drive a tank…”

“This ain’t nothing like the tanks of the Great War,” he comments, surveilling the room as well. “Well, we’re in a cognitive world; most likely, this will be piloted by cognition itself.”

“Wait… what does that mean?” I ask, confused. “Oh, you mean… I can pilot the tank… with my heart?”

“That’s a cheesy way of putting it, but I suppose so,” Ted grumbles.

I stand in the center of the room and think about the tank moving out the doors and outside… and feel a sense of total exhilaration when it begins rumbling and vibrating. I see the tank turn towards the metal doors… what remained of them opens properly, leaving the opening clear for me.

* * *

<Nova>

I’m hiding behind a chimney on the roof as Palmer is slowly sweeping through the area. He’s about to step into the gap between houses… soon, he’ll be exactly where we want him to be…

He steps into the gap, and I look at Anja and give her the thumbs up. She nods, and then jumps out from behind the stove she was behind and shouts, “POCKET SAND!” She snaps her fingers, causing a bright flash of light, and Palmer grunts and shuffles backwards dizzily.

I quickly jump off the roof and leap onto his back, running up to behind his neck. I get a firm grip on his neck and then shout, “GO!”

A wind attack from Anja blows Palmer’s back legs into one of the houses. I shoot electricity at it to open up a hole in the wall, which his back legs and tail get stuck in from the momentum. Success!

Anja opens fire into his torso just as we planned, and I jump on top of his head as he grunts with displeasure. Then, when her clip is depleted, she leaps out from under him, and I bring my hammer crashing down upon his head with a huge strike. Then, as he collapses onto the ground, I jump onto the next rooftop and then quickly off to the side to rejoin with Anja.

“Wow, that actually worked!” Anja marvels. “Let’s go hide somewhere again before he recovers…”

“What do you mean ‘that actually worked?’” I question, frowning. “Were you doubting me?”

“It’s just a joke Nova. Come on, let’s… AAAHHH!”

I feel the needles on the skin that mean we were blasted by those eye beams again, and both of us are knocked over. I hear the sounds of crumbling brick as he must have kicked his legs free from the house… oh fuck.

“Very clever,” I hear Palmer say behind us. “But I’m not interested in playing these silly cat and mouse games.”

“Jeez, even you’re making the cat puns now,” I point out, groaning.

“What? Nobody was making them before! You’re… Well, regardless. Let’s end this fight like men.”

“But I’m a girl!” Anja bemoans.

Palmer pounces forwards and takes a swipe at her, which she narrowly dodges by somersaulting backwards. Damn, I really wish now that I had shut up earlier so we could get away. Now it’s back to the old grind…

…Except then, Palmer just kind of stops, and stands still for a few seconds. I don’t know why at first, but then I hear it too: A deep rumbling sound in the distance, which seems to be rapidly getting closer as the ground begins shaking.

I look into the distance to see… WHAT THE FUCK

* * *

<Zoe>

I roll up to the neighborhood where Palmer is now standing off with Anja and Nova; it seems as if they came out of hiding. All three of them turn towards me as I approach, looking quite terrified.

I remember what my father said earlier: _“It’s an unstoppable weapon that can obliterate the hearts of the sinful.”_ It should work on him… but I need to act quickly before he realizes what’s going on and tries to run away again.

I think about the large cannon firing straight into him… A ray of light comes out that seems to split the very air into two right in front of me, and I’m forced to look away to protect my eyes. There is no “bang” sound, only a high-pitched sparkly sound and a faint whine that lingers in the air as visibility comes back.

Palmer was grievously injured by the cannon. While before he looked a bit battered but still healthy, after the cannon fire his fur is singed all over, and he is struggling to stay standing, his legs looking like they’re about to give out. He will be easy to finish off now.

Anja and Nova were dazed by the attack but are otherwise unharmed. Anja sees me and shouts, “Holy shit! Look Nova, that’s Zoe in that thing! You go, girl!” Celebrating, Anja waves fervently at me, which I return.

“Ow, my eyes and ears!” Nova moans loudly, holding his head in his hands.

Palmer takes a few steps backwards, and then suddenly leaps to the side and takes to the air, quickly enough to where I’m not able to aim and fire again in time.

“Oh no you don’t!” Nova yells furiously. “He’s not getting away this time! Come on Anja, let’s go after him!”

“What? How?” Anja questions.

Nova grabs Anja around the wrist, and then uses his propeller technique to take flight and fly after Palmer, Anja screaming with surprise.

“You think they’ll be able to get him?” Ted inquires. “This hunk of metal can’t move fast enough to give chase.”

“I believe they can do it,” I assure him. “He looks totally crippled by our attack.”

“What will you do then?” he questions.

“I’m going to go retrieve Ashley,” I tell him. I turn the tank around and move back towards the base, scanning the scenery for the squad of soldiers I saw earlier.

* * *

<Anja>

And that’s how I got to be flying through the air, dangling helplessly by my wrist as I watch the town fly by below me.

“ANJA! I’M GONNA THROW YOU!” Nova calls over the rushing wind.

“YOU’RE GONNA WHAT???” I shout back incredulously.

“I’M THROWING YOU TO HIS BACK! TAKE OUT THE WINGS!” Nova shouts back.

Without giving me a choice in the matter, he chucks me forward. I scream like a maniac as I go flying at the speed of a bullet straight for Palmer’s back. I land on my face, the fur thankfully cushioning the impact. I desperately grab onto the fur for dear life.

“GET OFF OF ME!” Palmer yells at me.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO FIGHTING LIKE MEN, HUH?” I taunt back. I get up to a sitting position and start firing into his wings like Nova told me to.

Palmer yowls furiously and starts doing circles in the air to shake me off. I grasp his fur again, but it’s not enough to save me from falling off. However, I’m somehow able to ride the wind current created by the spinning motion and get back on top of him. Holy shit, I’m so glad I have wind powers.

While he’s still off balance from the spin, I shoot out the other wing, and it’s finally too much for him: he quickly begins plummeting down. And that means that… I am too! Aaahhhh!

I jump off his back and try to use my powers to slow myself down. However, given the huge distance to the ground and lack of any center of gravity, there’s only so much I can do, and I prepare for a painful landing…

And then, Nova wraps an arm around me from behind, catching me under my armpit. That absolute madman, I can’t believe he manipulated his momentum carefully enough to catch me like that. I quickly cling on to him, and I feel us slowly decelerate going down. Meanwhile, below us, I hear a loud crash that indicates that Palmer hit the ground.

“We finally did it, Anja!” he shouts jovially. “He’s not getting up from that!”

I start laughing, not because of anything funny but sheerly from nerves. Then, caught up in the theatrics of the moment, I lean into him and give him a kiss on the cheek. Nova blushes furiously and stammers a bit, which is super adorable, making me giggle more.

We gently touch down onto the ground, and I feel my feet touch land at last as Nova lets me down. We landed in the middle of a cattle ranch; I spot a herd of them cautiously watching us from the distance. Palmer is in the middle of a small crater, laying on his side and clearly defeated.

“Let’s go rub it in his face that we won,” I suggest to Nova. He agrees, and we walk up to Palmer’s head.

“No more, please,” Palmer requests calmly, his voice weak. “I know when I’m defeated. I will return to my human form and surrender.”

“Ah… well, it’s no fun rubbing it in when he’s already admitting defeat,” I reason. “I guess we’ll call it good then.”

“Wait, uh, don’t turn back into a human yet,” Nova urges him. “We’re, uh, kinda in the middle of nowhere now, so, we need a ride back.”

“Ha! That’s even better!” I say gleefully. “From enemy to mere stead!”

“I’m not in any kind of condition to walk right now,” Palmer admits. “We’re going to have to figure something else out.”

“Well, I could heal you just enough to make you walk again,” I offer.

“But how are we going to know he won’t just attack us again?” Nova complains, raising his hammer again threateningly.

“I won’t. You have my word,” Palmer states. “Not only did the weapon fail to open for me, it was used against me… I acknowledge that I have been rebuked.”

“Well, there you go,” I assure Nova, still grinning at the humor of the situation as I move in close to heal him.

* * *

<Zoe>

I am very amused to see Anja and Nova return to me quite a while later riding on Palmer’s back, still in Manticore form of course. Ted and I abandoned the tank after using it to scare away the soldiers keeping Ashley hostage. She now rests in my arms, still unconscious. I had been spending the time brushing through her hair with my fingers.

Anja and Nova jump off Palmer’s back. Anja looks rather smug, while Nova looks somewhat nervous for a reason I can not guess. Then, one last time, Palmer is engulfed in the shadows to re-emerge as his regular human self.

I am rather antsy to get home by this point, but I first need to make sure that things will happen the way that they’re supposed to. I walk up to Palmer and say, “In real life, my parents now stand outside the door of Ashley’s home, along with several others. I believe that they are trying to intimidate them. You have the power to ensure that it ends peacefully, and that this fervor they have ignited is soothed.”

Palmer sighs heavily. “Yes. I will, of course. It is my duty,” he agrees. “I regret that this has happened. I never got to tell you this, but I do believe that your parents’ initial reaction to your ‘coming out’ was disgraceful. If they had just talked to me first…”

“Distancing yourself already?” Anja interrupts. “Don’t bother. We haven’t forgotten what _your_ solution was. And by that I of course mean sending her off to Psychological Abuse Camp.”

“Yes, there are… disputes about the effectiveness of that practice, I’m aware,” Palmer admits, mollified. “But worst case, she’d be away for a short while, letting me sooth tensions so we could return to peaceful normalcy afterwards… But, there laid the impurity of my heart. I became so focused on the collective contentment of the church, that I was willing to allow one blameless individual to suffer…”

“Okay good, he gets it now,” Nova interrupts awkwardly. “Can we go home already? We’ve been in this stupid palace for _way_ too long.”

“If you mean what you say, get everyone at the door to go home in peace,” I tell Palmer. “We… shall be leaving. If someone with free hands may do the honors.”

“I got it,” Nova says. He grabs his phone from his robes, and at last, we leave the palace victorious…

* * *

We re-appear just outside the portal where we entered. The church is no longer fleshy and organic but has returned to its normal form. I am… very relieved to see this.

“Do you guys… think it worked?” I ask meekly.

“It worked last time, didn’t it?” Nova affirms. “How the fuck did you guys get into that tank, anyway?”

“Yeah, it seems like you were up to quite a bit after we got knocked off the tower,” Anja says curiously. “Let’s head back, and how about you guys fill us in while we walk.”

“Um… okay. I think I’ll let Ted start,” I say, feeling tired.

“No problem at all,” Ted agrees, as the four of us begin walking home. “My hunter’s instinct told me that Palmer was about to pounce on us, so I grabbed Zoe and told her to duck…”

I quickly space out during Ted’s telling of the events, and just look down on Ashley, still laying in my arms unconsciously. Though she’s battered and bloody in many areas, she looks serene in a way, her face totally relaxed. She put herself through so much for me… she’s always been my pillar of strength. But now, I need to be stronger too, so I can help her in return. It’s clear to me now that she needs me as much as I need her.

* * *

<Alyssa (Ashley’s mom)>

Ahh, she’s a thing of beauty; after toiling away for a while, my AR-15 is spotless. It’s quite a bit harder to clean than say, my musical instruments, due to the black color obscuring much of the dirt. So don’t let anyone tell you I don’t take care of my things.

Setting that down, I take a breath and think about what I need to do next. Hmm… Gregg went to go answer the door quite a while ago and still hasn’t come back. I guess I better go bail him out. I throw on a shirt and make my way to the front.

My husband is standing in the doorway, and I can hear Harold’s voice angrily arguing something, though I can’t make out what he’s saying.

I arrive at the doorway and step out in front of Gregg. “Honey, why didn’t you inform me ahead of time that we’re having a house party this evening?” I scold him jokingly.

“Where have you been this whole time?” Stephenson demands. “This conversation has been going in circles!”

“Now you know what I have to put up with every day!” I moan, but I wink at Gregg so that he knows it’s (mostly) a joke.

Getting a better glance at the group, I notice something odd; Zoe’s parents are sort of hanging towards the back, not making eye contact with anyone. That’s rather uncharacteristic of them.

I give Gregg a questioning glance about them, to which he announces, “Ah, Abram and Marie, is something troubling you? You have lost the zest you had earlier in the conversation.”

There’s an awkward pause, as everyone else looks back at them. Marie looks around guiltily and says, “Look… I don’t want to fight about this anymore. I just want to see my daughter again. I just want to talk with her, privately…”

“For the last time, Zoe clearly does not wish to be disturbed at this time,” Gregg replies sardonically, “Although if you would like, I am willing to leave a message for her…”

But then, another car pulls up to the curb and parks. I recognize it immediately; it belongs to Jared.

“Ah excellent, he’s here at last,” Abram remarks. “Well everyone, your support was highly appreciated, but I do not wish to spend any more of your afternoons; now that our pastor is here, I believe we can take it from here.”

“Are you quite sure, Abram?” Harold asks. “Well, I suppose we weren’t making much progress before, so perhaps you’re right.”

“I will see you all tomorrow then,” Stephenson says curtly. “Peace be with you, as the Catholics say.”

Mrs. White doesn’t say anything, but simply gives me an annoyed glare. The other three walk away, leaving only Gregg, Marie, and Abram standing in the doorway. Then, the brief awkward silence is broken by Jared’s arrival.

“Good afternoon to you all,” Jared greets politely. “Well, I had a feeling that a meeting such as this is inevitable, so let us talk.”

“My wife and I seek a hasty ending to this conflict,” Abram states simply.

“Ah, what made you change your minds?” Jared asks. “I was under the impression that you were willing to fight for as long as it took for it to go your way.”

“The longer we drag this on, the more pain we put everyone through,” Marie admits.

“I’m pleased that you’ve come to realize that,” Jared agrees.

“Jared, you don’t believe this absolute crock about us keeping Zoe here against her will, right?” I question him. “To think former friends of ours would spread such libel just to cover their asses.”

“Alyssa, come on now!” Abram pleads. “This was a misunderstanding. We only want what is in our daughter’s best interests.”

“Then why are you here?” I ask bluntly.

There is an awkward pause, as neither seems to have a response for that.

“Abram, may I offer some insight?” Jared asks.

“You may,” Abram replies testily.

“I have interacted with your daughter since she was a baby,” Jared begins. “I was… very surprised to hear that she departed from her home like that. Wouldn’t you agree that she is about the last child at the church you would expect this from?”

“Jared, we know that we were wrong with how we reacted at first,” Marie simpers. “But… I miss Zoe so much. I just want her to know that she’s welcome to come back.”

“Yes, but in your fiery anger, it seems as if you irreparably harmed the trust she has in you,” Jared continues. “When a child becomes a certain age, the parent will not be trusted unconditionally as before, but will need to cultivate it. Perhaps if you had acted more quickly after the initial incident, you could’ve begun rebuilding that trust…”

“But now,” Gregg interrupts, “Zoe seemed concerned yesterday during dinner that returning to your care would lead to her being sent to… ‘conversion therapy?’ Which was a prospect she intensely feared.”

“Ah, I knew that Collin was still talking to her,” Abram concedes. “Somehow he’s started believing this liberal talk about ‘human rights violations’…”

“How many times do I have to say it before it gets through to you all?” I accost him. “Some people _can’t go back to being straight_. Some people can, but Zoe is clearly not one of them.” I briefly feel sad, as this makes me think about… No. I can’t get distracted right now. “So if you try to make someone go back, when they _can’t_ , what do you think’s gonna happen?”

“Hmm… well I suppose that I’m not going to change your minds at this point,” Abram admits begrudgingly. “I still think you people rely too heavily on worldly knowledge…”

“I’ve had to… accept a hard lesson recently about unity,” Jared cuts in. “Jesus wished for Christians to all be united as one church; however, even back in the early days, there were disagreements about how to interpret His teachings. Paul advised us not to quarrel over opinions, so long as the intents of our hearts are to glorify God; (1) and so, it becomes clear that ‘united as one church’ does not mean we will all be the same…”

“It is like what our children do in the marching band,” Gregg comments sagely. “They are all quite different, and yet they work together in sync as a unit.”

A pause hangs in the air. At last, I feel a sense of finality…

“Alright then,” Marie says, breaking the silence. “If that’s how it will be… tell Zoe this message for me. She is welcome to come back to us and… visit at any time. And… she will be free to collect her things. We will honor whatever decision she makes.”

“Will certainly do,” Gregg agrees, looking relieved.

Abram sighs heavily. “Well then,” he says a bit sadly. “We will be on our way back home now… but if we hear a single peep from Collin about Zoe being mistreated, we will be back for her, do you understand?”

“We understand totally,” I affirm, nodding. “I would not expect anything different from you.”

Abram and Marie are on their way at last. Jared, however, looks up at us, and has one final comment: “On the subject of parenting… ever since you all arrived in Enchantment City, I noticed that your daughter is clearly quite unhappy and troubled in her spirit. I at first believed this to be a result of her having to move, but it has stayed consistent throughout all the time you’ve lived here. You two would do well to intervene quickly, or else you may lose her.”

His words feel like a slap to the face. As Jared turns to leave, I see the same shocked feeling on Gregg’s face as well.

“Well, after you,” he tells me, holding the door open. “And… I think we should discuss that parting comment back in our bedroom.”

“Yes, let’s,” I agree, stepping back into the house.

* * *

<BBD>

  1. Romans 14:1-7




	47. Dark Night Of The Soul (September 23 Part 9)

<Zoe>

As soon as we re-appear in Ashley’s room, I feel my arms protest as Ashley seems to have gotten much heavier despite the absence of her armor. I quickly drop her onto her bed. Her eyes pop open then and meet mine.

“Zoe… oh no, we lost didn’t we?” she asks.

“No Ashley, we won!” I tell her, smiling. “We got Palmer to have a change of heart… I wish you had been conscious to see it!”

“Oh. Good,” she states. She pushes herself up and sits upright on the side of the bed. “If we won, why did you look so sad just then?”

“Oh… I looked sad?” I question, not realizing I was making that face. “I think that was just because my arms hurt from carrying you.”

“No, that’s not ‘sadness,’ Zoe,” she counters.

“Yeah, I suppose not… let me think about this for a minute.” I sit down next to her, pressed close against her so that our shoulders are touching.

“I… felt things in that palace that I never have before,” I explain. “It was like all the hurt and sadness I had over the past week exploded into anger… I got so angry at my parents, after seeing how they acted in that world. And after we got separated, I ran into Terra and Diana. Terra was just… so horrible to me. She treated me like I was this… creature, who wasn’t even human. I got so angry at her… I wanted to hurt her so badly…”

Ashley wraps her arm around me and holds me closer. I notice that tears had begun streaming down my face while I talked…

“I know that feeling too, Zoe,” she replies. “It’s a feeling that most people will thankfully never feel… there’s a special kind of ferocious anger you feel when someone treats you as subhuman, all because of something that’s not even your fault.”

“But it wasn’t a good feeling,” I tell her. “Underneath that anger, I felt so helpless and humiliated… I never want to feel that way again.”

“I’m sorry Zoe,” she says earnestly. “I never wanted any of this for you. But now it’s happened, and you’re… becoming more like me.”

I turn to her, surprised. “Ashley… why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?” I ask. “I _want_ to be more like you… you’re so confident, and brave, and smart too!”

I’m hoping that she’ll be cheered up by this compliment, but instead, she looks at the floor, looking more morose than ever. There’s an awkward pause as neither of us say anything. I feel a bit guilty that my compliment backfired, so I change the subject.

“Ashley… do you think the people in that world meant how they acted?” I ask. “Diana and Yonca both seemed like they were sorry… they wanted to be friends with me again but were just afraid.”

“Hmm… interesting question,” she responds. “I think that they were, on some level. Diana would’ve been showing the side of her she keeps hidden away from that world, and Yonca’s behavior would’ve had to be based on something someone in the church knew about her… perhaps the two had even discussed this before, and it was Diana’s knowledge of Yonca that was reflected in the palace.”

“Huh. So that’s how it works?” I say, trying to wrap my head around that. I sigh. “But that means that Terra’s inner thoughts are even worse than how she normally acts… What’s happened to her?”

“Well, for all you know this is how she always was,” Ashley says.

“No… she wasn’t. A few years ago, a major terrorist leader was assassinated. In the cafeteria the next day, some boy told Yonca that he was sorry that ‘her leader’ had died… and Terra was the one who jumped to her defense, telling the boy that Yonca was not violent and he was horrible for assuming she wanted anything to do with that. But now, she was telling Diana and I that Yonca was our enemy…”

“Yonca’s not even the same ethnicity as the people behind Al Quaeda, what kind of ignorant trash would say that?” Ashley replies distastefully.

We sit together for a while longer, these unpleasant thoughts swimming around my head. Eventually, we are interrupted by a knock on Ashley’s door.

“Come in,” Ashley says.

Her mom comes in, also looking rather pensive. She looks at us for a moment and then teases, “Wow, you two sure are a rowdy couple tonight.”

I giggle a bit at this.

“So Zoe… it looks like we’ve finally got something worked out with your folks,” she explains. “I don’t think they’re going to harass us anymore, and you’ll be allowed to retrieve your things.”

I sigh with relief, feeling very happy. That means that our mission was a success!

“And Ashley… your dad and I were thinking of going out for dinner tonight, as sort of a celebration,” her mom continues. “Is there anywhere special you’d like to go?”

“Huh?” Ashley asks, like she was just spacing out. “Oh, I don’t care. Ask Zoe.”

“Um… could we go to Olive Garden? The one in Round Rock?” I request. “My family used to go there for celebrations.”

“Sure thing. That’s not too far away,” her mom says. “Well, go ahead and get ready, then…”

Suddenly, I have an idea. “Wait… I was wondering, could we bring our friends with, too? They’ve… done a lot to help me get through all of this.”

“Oh. Well, if their parents are fine with it, I don’t see why not,” her mom agrees. However, I swear I see something quickly flash across her face, so quickly I can’t tell what it is…

* * *

<Ashley>

My parents took Zoe up on her suggestion and brought Anja and Nova to dinner with us. They told us all to order whatever we wanted, and boy did Nova do just that. He must’ve gotten the most expensive thing on the god damn menu. Well, I’ll give him credit for resisting the urge to bring his 3DS into the restaurant, at least.

“Thank you very much for taking us out!” Anja tells my parents, nodding at them politely.

“You’re welcome,” Mom replies. “See it as repayment for what you have done for Ashley and Zoe in the past weeks.”

“They’ve helped me out too,” Nova comments. “I see us all as even.”

“And they’ve helped _me_ in a way, too,” Anja adds. “I realized that I really never talk to people with really different views than me, since I mostly agree with my dad and the people I follow on social media. That changed when I met Ashley… I’ve decided I’m gonna try and learn as much as I can, so I can throw the best possible arguments in Ashley’s face next time we argue about something!”

I scoff at her and say, “Whatever, Anja.” That said, I privately can’t help but to feel a glow of affection for her. I’m glad that she’s evolving so she won’t end up like one of those morons that use Tumblr.

“A fine idea,” Dad compliments her. “Talking with those who are ideologically different than you is very beneficial; either you will learn new things which change your mind about something, or your defense of your current positions will strengthen your resolve.”

“Are you very interested in politics?” Mom asks Anja. “Not a lot of kids your age are.”

“Yes,” Anja affirms. “It runs in the family… my mom was a distinguished public servant.”

Mom leans in a little, clearly interested. “Do you mind if I ask what her name is?”

“Ellen Beatty. You’ve most likely heard of her,” Anja responds.

Mom reacts more strongly to this than I expect; she gasps and her eyes pop wide open. “Anja… your mother and I were very close friends in high school, actually,” Mom explains. “I was absolutely devastated about her passing away. I knew that she had a daughter, but I had no idea she was the one who befriended _my_ daughter!”

Well, that was news to me. Mom had told me the story about what happened to Beatty before, but never mentioned them being friends. And if they were such good friends, how did Mom not even know her daughter’s name? My guess would be that they were probably not on such good terms when Beatty died.

“Wow, you really knew her?” Anja replies, her eyes wide with amazement. “She’s a huge inspiration to me!”

“It’d be wrong for me to speak on her behalf too much, but I’ll say this much; she’d be very proud of who you’ve grown up into,” Mom tells Anja. “Even back in high school, your mother loved debating, and she debated with _everyone_. Some of our arguments about gun control got particularly heated…” Mom’s eyes glaze over, as if she was wistfully reliving memories of the good old days.

“Hehehe. So history repeats, then?” Anja jokes.

“That’s quite a good quality to have,” Dad remarks. “It will prevent you from becoming like some of the people at our former church… Zoe, I hope you do not take offense to that.”

Zoe, who has been still and quiet this whole time, shakes her head. “I don’t. They were too far gone.”

“Man, what was wrong with those people?” Nova questions. “How on earth could anyone ever defend what Zoe’s parents did?”

“Well, I’m not sure what kind of beliefs you two hold, so I’ll explain it this way,” Dad begins, and I can already feel another Dad Lecture coming. He tends to not talk much, but when he does, it is in long, through-composed speeches. I get to listen to one of these about once a week.

“When you start a new part of your life, you will have a strong emotional reaction to that thing. This can be a new job, a new hobby, a new friendship, a new romance, or, indeed, a new religion that you have converted to. Eventually, the excitement of the new thing will wear off as it becomes familiar and routine. However, that does not mean you should quit that thing; if you have built a strong foundation for that new relationship, it will survive the shift, like a house that was built on the rock. However, if you sought that thing only for the short-term gratification, it will fall apart then, like a house built on the sand. Many Christians grow afraid when that initial strong emotion wears off after conversion, and cling to anything which will bring back that feeling. They may shun secular media or grow distant from their friends outside the faith. Eventually, they may become deranged enough to rally against things that would be insignificant to a sane person, such as children reading stories about wizards or a retail store re-organizing its toy section. But only someone weak in faith would feel challenged by mere proximity to secular media and beliefs.”

“Huh, that makes sense when you think about it like that,” Anja comments, looking thoughtful. “It says a lot about how insecure they are as people.”

There’s a moment of silence after, as I suppose everyone is pondering Dad’s words or whatever. During this silence, our complimentary breadsticks arrive.

“Oh, excellent!” Anja says, excitedly grabbing a few. “These are so good, sometimes I just want to shove a bunch of them in my purse before I leave the restaurant…”

“Don’t eat _too_ many, or else you won’t be hungry anymore when the entrees arrive,” Mom scolds her, grabbing a breadstick herself. “I do that every time we go here…”

“You know there are take out boxes you can get for these, right?” I question Anja.

Anja shakes her head at me as she swallows her first mouthful. “Ah, classic Ashley. Not getting the meme as usual…”

Before I can ask what she means by this, I hear a gasp from Zoe, who is fixated on something past my head. “Ashley, look!” she tells me. “I can’t believe it- I just saw Yonca walk in with her family!”

I turn my head and see Yonca walking with a man I recognize as the one Zoe’s parents were waterboarding earlier, an olive-skinned woman who resembles her, and a couple of older girls who must be older sisters of hers.

“Huh. What a coincidence.” I state.

“Ashley… what if it’s not a coincidence?” Zoe asks, looking inspired. “I… I wanna go talk to her.”

“I’ll go with you, then,” I tell her. “I could use a bit of fresh air afterwards anyway.”

Zoe makes eye contact with me, looking serious. “Ashley… I think this is something I should do by myself,” she says.

This annoys me for some reason I can’t really explain, but I shrug. “Oh, alright,” I respond. “I’ll go get some fresh air by myself, then.” And before anyone can stop me, I stand up and walk outside.

* * *

<Anja>

Something seems off about Ashley tonight… with her parents’ permission, I follow her outside to find her brooding around on a bench in front. I take a seat next to her, and she gives me a look of mild surprise and annoyance.

“What’s the matter, Ashley?” I question her. “You seem like you’ve been in a bad mood tonight.”

“Well, I’m not feeling very talkative, okay?” she answers defensively “Honestly, I kind of hate large gatherings like this anyway.”

“Well, this whole affair must have taken a lot out of you,” I reason. “The people we fought in that palace were all people you knew, right?”

She shakes her head. “Yeah, well, I never cared for them," she replies distastefully.

I frown at her. “You mean there's nobody at your church you like?"

"Sure they all act nice, but it's like Zoe said. That palace showed the real them. They're sick, hateful people who only care about clinging to the past." She says this with such venom that I can’t help but to be frightened of her…

After a moment, she locks eyes with me and asks, “Why are you looking at me that way? I'm not mad at you, you know." She sighs, her posture relaxing. “You've actually been a really good friend. So has Nova. Thank you."

“It’s no problem, Ashley,” I assure her. “But I have to wonder… you have that negative of a view of _everyone_ from your church? Is that why you stabbed that one guy?"

“Who, Garrett? He was in the way."

"But you seemed to actually _enjoy_ doing that,” I press her. “It was quite disturbing to watch."

Ashley shoots me a clearly annoyed glare. "Don't judge me before you know what I've been through.”

"I'm not judging you. I'm just worried about you."

Ashley doesn’t say anything to that, she just turns her head away from me. She clearly doesn’t appreciate me snooping like this, but I’m not ready to give it up yet.

"Do you have violent thoughts a lot?" I ask.

Ashley takes a deep breath and says, "Yes. I sometimes find myself dreaming about doing horrible things to people I don't like."

Ooh. _Yikes_. "Well, we all get angry sometimes," I offer diplomatically.

"You don't get it. I mean I think about doing these things and I enjoy it. It feels so, so good to hurt people."

I’m not sure which is worse; what she’s saying, or the rather casual way she’s saying it…

"Like the girl you slammed into the locker?" I ask.

She bristles once again. "You don't have to bring that up again."

I sigh. I’m gonna try changing strategies on her.

“Think of it this way,” I begin. “You seem to have a low opinion of most people. And, I do partially understand that, believe me. But before this year, you weren't friends with Nova or I. You probably would've assumed we were just like the rest of them, but we all ended up becoming friends. So how many others at our school, or even at your church, are people you could've been friends with if you got to know them more?"

Ashley shakes her head. "It's not that simple. I let you and Nova hang around me because I knew that you two weren't very popular, so you understood why the social structure is awful. But I don't want to be friends with anyone who's complicit in that. They're worthless to me."

With this indictment hanging in the air, I think it’s time to wrap up this discussion…

"Well... okay then,” I say. “Can you at least promise not to use violence on people? It’s really not good that you’re having these types of thoughts regularly. If you need an outlet you can use the Metaverse for that. Or take up playing Call of Duty or something.”

Ashley sighs heavily. “Yeah, I know. I won’t do anything like that again. And yes, I realize that I'm fucked up in the head. I have a lot of twisted thoughts floating around in there..."

“Well, if you bottle it all up, it'll only come out in a way that's unhealthy,” I urge her. “You can talk to one of us anytime you need to. Zoe, your parents, and Nova and I, we all love you- different types of love in each case, sure, but still.”

Ashley reacts oddly to this, taking in a sudden, sharp breath and closing her eyes. “Thank you… Anja,” she says, a hint of sadness in her voice.

“No problem!” I tell her. I lean over and give her a big hug, which she returns.

* * *

<Nova>

Man this is really fucking awkward. Anja, Ashley and Zoe are all gone somewhere, leaving me sitting alone with her parents… I just kinda slowly munch on my breadsticks and try not to make eye contact.

Thankfully, Zoe returns to her seat after a while, smiling and with a bit of wetness in her eyes. “It seems like… we can be friends again,” she explains. “She said she was sorry for not sticking up for me.”

“Oh, cool,” I say. I guess that was kinda a foregone conclusion after what happened in that palace.

“Good for you, Zoe,” Ashley’s mom says. “I hope that things get better for you two, I’ve been really worried about you both.”

“I think that things are going to get better,” Zoe assures her.

“We’ve been particularly worried about Ashley,” Ashley’s mom continues. “It’s not like her to get into fights at school. I can’t help but to feel that there are things that Ashley still isn’t telling us.”

Zoe cocks her head slightly. “Did she ever tell you about what happened at her old school before you all moved?”

“I’m… not sure what you’re talking about, so no,” Ashley’s mom says.

“Ashley told me once that she’s dealing with things she prefers to keep quiet,” I explain, since it seems relevant. “And that was after I knew about the lesbian stuff, so she wasn’t talking about that.”

“She implied such to me as well once…” Ashley’s dad adds.

“So, I must be the only one who knows about that,” Zoe comments, no longer smiling and now looking blank.

“Perhaps so,” Ashley’s mom agrees. “I won’t ask you to tell us for her, since that’s her right to do, but we need to have some serious talks as a family going forward. In high school, I had a boyfriend named Lucas. I loved him to death, but one day he lost his temper on me and exploded about something minor, and we broke up. He was clearly dealing with issues that none of us knew about, but I wasn’t able to get him to tell me about it. He ran away from home after that, and I have no idea what happened to him to this day…”

It goes back to awkward silence again after this, and Ashley’s mom kinda spaces out. Not too much later, Ashley and Anja sit back down, back from whatever the hell they were doing out there.

“I hope that the food arrives here soon,” Ashley dad says, which was exactly what I was just thinking. “I know you kids must have homework to do still, as this is a weeknight.”

“Oh, it’s alright,” I assure him. “I already did all mine before I got here.”

Ashley gives me a wide-eyed look. “Really? You did?” she asks. “You’re joking, right?”

“No I’m not joking!” I reply angrily. “I’m, uh, trying to get it out of the way soon so I won’t spend so much time dreading it. Sometimes I fail at that and procrastinate it anyway, but I felt motivated enough to do it tonight.”

Anja smiles at me. “Good for you!” she says, which makes me feel surprisingly warm inside. “I haven’t done mine yet, haha…” Zoe smiles at me too, but I don’t really get why…? She has that annoying look like she knows something I don’t. I hate it when people look at me like that!

What I don’t hate is that our food is finally fucking here. I start scarfing it down as quickly as I can. I got fettuccine alfredo with shrimp on top, and it’s sooo god damn good. Why didn’t everyone else get this? Finally, some good fucking food…


End file.
